Thurso-based endurance athlete Lorna Stanger has smashed her target of raising £500 for Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland
At the weekend Caithness woman Lorna Stanger ran 112 miles from Inverness to Thurso to help raise awareness of the support provided by Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH).
Lorna (53) initially wanted to reach a target of £500 but at the beginning of this week she had already reached £900. She is keen to highlight the the work carried out by RASASH, a service she feels does "such a good job" helping people with support in general.
"I genuinely want to help people – I wish that everyone could get help when they need it," she said.
Lorna pointed out: "Victims need to be believed and supported, not blamed and shamed. It is not the fault of the victim – it is the fault of the perpetrator."
The campaigner would like for RASASH to have more outreach workers to cover remote areas and hopes some of the money raised can go towards that.
She said: "I am really surprised by the amount of support I have had and the comments received. They are saying thanks for doing this for such a good cause – which needs to be recognised."
Before setting off on Friday evening (November 25) Lorna took part in the Reclaim the Night march in Inverness, organised by RASASH to mark the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
After speaking at the march she set off on her 112-mile run from Falcon Square. Her running time was 22 hours, 47 minutes, but in total the journey took her nearly 27 hours to complete including rest stops and the time taken to organise the lights needed. Most of her running was carried out in the dark with only seven hours of daylight.
Her previous journeys over the same distance have taken her under 24 hours, but this time she felt her experience towards the end was not so bad.
Although it was a slower run, she was able to enjoy fairly good weather conditions for the main part of the route. It started to get quite wet just before Helmsdale and by the time she reached the Causewaymire the wind got up and she was buffeted around a bit.
"The last five miles was really hard going," said Lorna. "I was just so determined – I kinda got blown into Thurso."
The fundraiser, who could not really face food during the journey, took a welcome break at Berriedale where she was able to have a short sit down and take sips from a frozen sports drink and soup.
Speaking on Monday morning, she explained that she was almost back to normal. The only injury she mentioned was a little heat rash around her ankles due to the fact she wore thicker thermal socks to keep her feet warm.
Glad that she has completed the challenge, Lorna confessed that she was not going to rush off and do another run like this in the future but would consider doing something else instead.
In total the intrepid runner has gone up and down the A9 between Inverness and Thurso six times to raise money for charity. Through JustGiving she has raised over £10,000 for good causes with another £5000 or so generated outwith that platform.
Donations for this latest run can be made on Lorna's JustGiving page.
Providing essential support on her challenges is local photographer Robert MacDonald.
