Oggie 8 Challenge Coming Soon

© OVMRO

The sixth annual Oggie 8 Challenge takes place Saturday August 3rd. This tough Mountain Rescue fundraising event is already becoming a bit of an institution.

Start of the 2012 Oggie 8  © OVMRO
Start of the 2012 Oggie 8
© OVMRO

The challenge is to make a walking or running circuit of the eight 3000-foot peaks surrounding Snowdonia's Ogwen Valley - Yr Elen , Carnedd Llewelyn , Carnedd Dafydd , pen yr ole wen, Y Garn , Glyder Fawr , Glyder Fach and Tryfan . The 15-mile route takes in well over 2000m ascent, but involves no obligatory scrambling.

It's put on as a fundraiser for the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO), one of the busiest mountain rescue teams in the country with over 100 callouts per year. As a charity OVMRO is funded entirely by donations, with annual operating costs of £60k. Oggie 8 is the team's largest single source of money.

Ninety participants have entered the event to date, but there's room for more. They are asked to raise a minimum of £25 per person, which is payable in advance to secure a place.

'We have set ourselves a target this year of £10,000: Fingers crossed' says event organiser Dave Worrall. So far they've raised over £1700.

'It's not meant to be a race, [but] it is a challenge and people should expect to take 8-12 hours to complete it. Last year the course record was broken at 5 hours 13 min by a team called Tom Tom. We have changed the route slightly this year because of erosion on a couple of sections, but still hope teams can do a good time.'

Course marshals will be waiting on each summit and at other key locations to keep a close eye on participants, but Dave emphasises that anyone looking to take part should still be a competent hillwalker.

'It is a fantastic adventure covering eight of the best mountains in Snowdonia, taking in summits on the Carneddau and Glyders finishing on the iconic Tryfan - supported by OVMRO and raising much needed funds for the team, and with celebration food and beer at the end' he enthuses. 'What more could you want?'

For more info take a look at the Oggie 8 Challenge website.

End the day on Tryfan Photo: Dan Bailey  © Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com
End the day on Tryfan Photo: Dan Bailey

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