Harry’s 100 mountains hike in just three days

Harry’s 100 mountains hike in just three days

21 June 2023

A LOCAL pensioner is taking the final steps of a gruelling charity challenge in the Mournes.

Harry Teggarty (72) set off at 5am on Monday morning to climb 100 mountains in the space of three days.

He hopes to complete the challenge later today and raise much-needed money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma NI.

With decades of experience working at sea, as well as an ongoing involvement with the Mourne Mountain rescue team, Harry is ready to face his greatest challenge yet. 

Harry is set to take on 100 mountains across 106 miles and a total ascent of 13,000 metres — all off trail. 

He is also used to operating in trying conditions with little sleep, but this challenge will be different and longer than anything he undertaken in the past.

In 2005, Harry launched ‘Cassie’s Challenge’, which involved a 58-mile run covering 50 mountains in the Mournes in 24 hours. Driven by personal inspiration, this inspired him to create ‘Cassie’s Extra Extra Challenge’.

The Annalong man suffered a shock during the Covid lockdown when he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

He recalled: “I would always have always gone and got my bloods done, but I knew something wasn’t right when the doctor said, ‘Harry, come back in a few months and we’ll do it again’.

“Then the news came. It hit me right between the eyes when they told me I had leukaemia. You don’t know what way it’s going to go then, but that was three years coming up in September.”

He continued: “One chemo tablet keeps me right, everything seems to be working 100 per cent, I get my bloods done every three months – I feel good, I just keep going.

“Mentally I think it’s good for me to keep focused on the things I like to do.”

To prepare for his latest challenge Harry has been training hard three times a week. He’s confident in his ability to complete the challenge, but he recognises potential risks.

“We [the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team] helped a wee man, 80 years of age, fell on top of Binnian, he had a fractured skull, broken ribs, a broken shoulder, broken bones in his leg… it can happen so easy, it just takes one fall, so you have to be focused all the time.

“You can’t get too tired, you need full concentration all the time. If I have to stop and get some sleep, I will. I hope to get it done in three days but if it takes a bit longer, well then I’ll just keep on going until I do it.

“This run is not on tracks, this is through heather, everything – it is far from a walk in the park, so it’s going to be hard going, I know that.

“There will be people coming on different legs to keep me company, but nobody has volunteered to do the whole thing with me just yet – don’t know why that is. I’ll have support though, and hopefully if I pace myself right, and get good weather, I should be OK.

“At the end of the day, I’m very thankful to be as good as I am at the minute, and to still be able to take on something like this.”

A tracker will allow people to Harry’s progress, and donations can be made at his just giving page.