UK - The organisers of the State Street Caledonian Challenge will know later this week how many of 1,620 who registered to walk the designated 54 mile stretch of the West Highland Way in a 24 hour period actually completed what is reckoned to be the country’s “premier endurance challenge”.

What is known is that the winner of this year’s challenge is Glaswegian Jethro Lennox, a 26-year old photographer with publishers Harper Collins. Lennox completed the event in a record eight hours and 37 minutes. He beat contingents from the financial and investment communities, which included teams from Baillie Gifford, Jones Lang LaSalle, Martin Currie, Noble & Company, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, Standard Life, State Street and Watson Wyatt.

The challenge claims to be Scotland’s largest corporate team-building and networking event and is anticipated to raise one million pounds (1.4 million euro) for Scottish charities, though the organisers say the final amount will not be known until the end of the year when all the money has been collected. Grants are made by the Scottish Community Foundation to hundreds of different charities and community groups locally.

The organisers are expecting better results than last year when the event was beset by torrential downpours, as this year the weather was mixed with some showers. In addition to the walkers, 260 volunteers are involved.

State Street has committed its sponsorship for the event over the next three years. John Corcoran, managing director in Edinburgh says: “We are looking forward to our on-going involvement as the primary sponsor and as walkers and volunteers.”

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