Trig Avionics Manufacturing Technician, Grant McGowan, completed the Spartan Beast Race. A 21km race with over 30 obstacles all to raise £5300 for Charity.

Grant, fundraised for the Glasgow’s Children’s Charity. His best friends, daughter, Amy, was born with defective kidneys. After suffering from many infections she was diagnosed with kidney failure. Amy was sent by emergency ambulance from Fife to Glasgow where she received specialist care.

The charity was fantastic. Grant said, “They not only helped with the care of Amy but also supported her parents during a difficult time. Grant has since visited the hospital and said, “The facilities they have to care for sick children is incredible. As a group, we wanted to raise money for this deserving charity.”

Thirty obstacles include a barbed wire crawl, fire jump, rope climb and tire drag

Grant went on to explain their fundraising warranted more than a token effort. They chose to compete in the biggest, hardest and most physically challenging race in Scotland.

The Spartan Beast Race claim their 21km+ course features proper Scottish hills and is designed to drain the energy from competitor’s legs. With 30+ obstacles including a barbed wire crawl, fire jump, rope climb and tire drag this race is not for the faint hearted.

Getting fit enough for this event was extremely difficult and balancing work, training and a social life can take its toll. Grant said, “Working a full day, travelling home and then going a 2-3-hour run didn’t leave much time for socialising. Every drop of alcohol and junk food consumed was definitely felt…”

Grant was already physically active so went into training with a positive view. He said, “We optimistically decided to do this event weeks before it kicked off. We could easily run 5km but none of us could run a 21km obstacle course.”

With only three months till the event the boys couldn’t train for both running and strength. “We had the choice of increasing our cardio or increasing strength, we didn’t have the time to train for both. We chose the cardio as we thought at least that way we would make it to the end.”

After months of training and dedication it was race day. Asking Grant if the hard work paid off he said, “Honestly, we massively underestimated the difficulty of the race. We had trained for cardio and long distance running but the terrain (Edinburgh Pentland Hills) did not allow for any running. The hills far exceeded anything we had trained for and the terrain was extremely wet and uneven.”

“We massively underestimated the difficulty of the race.”

However, Grant wasn’t willing to give up without a fight, “every failed obstacle had a 30 burpee penalty so it was in our best interest to do the obstacles. There were long periods of time where we just walked up steep hills, sometimes that steep the only option was to crawl.”

Despite the challenges, Grant and his two friends finished the race triumphantly. Reflecting on his experience Grant said, “It was the most difficult thing we’ve ever done. It was a very rewarding feeling just to make it to the end and knowing we had raised money for charity. It was certainly a proud moment.”

Grant and his friends raised a fantastic total of £5300 for the Glasgow Children’s Charity. In future the boys are planning more fundraisers and events. Grant said, “We may stick with the Spartan Race but a bigger effort to raise money will be required.”

Trig Avionics is proud of Grant and all of his efforts and wish him luck with all future fundraising plans.