Loch Ness paddleboard challenge helps Inverness martial arts bid
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A paddleboarding challenge on Loch Ness has raised £2400 to help a group of youngsters compete in a martial arts world championship competition.
Derek Steele covered the 23-mile length of the loch in eight-and-a-half hours on his paddleboard.
The money raised will help a group of youngsters from Highland Top Team in Inverness travel to the Elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Junior World Championships in Wolverhampton in July.
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Mr Steele, who took to the water at Loch End at 6.30am and finished at Fort Augustus at 3pm, was accompanied by his cousin, Susan Macrae, in her kayak.
“The conditions for the first two hours were quite misty and foggy,” said Mr Steele, an operations technician at Lifescan.
“We couldn’t see a lot until we got to Urquhart Bay.
“But the water conditions were pretty much perfect. The loch was as flat as a mirror.
“The last few miles were quite hard going - my legs and my arms were quite sore but I managed to push through. I was more mentally fatigued.”
There was also a funny moment when a friend with a group of tourists spotted him in the mist and started waving at him, causing great excitement among them and another group of visitors thinking it was the Loch Ness Monster - before they were informed of what the “sighting” was.
Mr Steele’s children have been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with Aiden MacKenzie of Highland Top Team, for just over two years.
Last year, he and his daughter, Codi, climbed Ben Nevis to raise money for the youngsters’ team to travel to the Elite BJJ Junior World Championships in Wolverhampton.
This year, he decided on his paddleboarding challenge as a fundraiser to enable the youngsters to compete on the world stage on July 13 and 14.
Although he set a £2000 target on a Justgiving page, he has already raised £2400.
He also received support from Bluefin SUPs.
In his fundraising appeal, he stated: “This is a wonderful opportunity to sponsor kids Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the Highlands and bring some well deserved recognition to our part of the world.
“You never know, you could be helping fund a future world champion.”
