A group of us were on our annual pilgrimage walking in the Scottish Highlands on the 8th March and tragically on the first day of walking, my good friend Shaun Bowden slipped and fell to his death. At the time, we were unable to establish where he had fallen due to deteriorating weather conditions. His body was found that same day by the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. Shaun was only 39 years old and sadly leaves behind a wife and 2 young children. Shaun was an amazing person who touched the hearts of many during his short life and will be greatly missed. It is a testament to Shaun’s courage and skill that when he fell, he instinctively avoided his walking companions, which would surely have resulted in their deaths as well. Instead, he attempted to arrest his fall with his ice axe but the quality of the snow made this impossible.

A group of Shaun's friends inculding myself, decided to do something in his memory and to raise funds for the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. GMRT have been providing a free rescue service in the Glencoe area since 1961. They are an amazing and professional group of people run entirely by volunteers and hugely reliant on donations for funding. We are all going to be running the St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday 9th June in order to regroup and show our appreciation of everything the GMRT did to help.