'Not again!' says Inverness teenager who ran Cape Wrath Trail in memory of dead brother
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An Inverness teenager has completed the Cape Wrath Trail in memory of her little brother – and to raise vital funding for cancer research.
Arden Tuerlinckx ran the 230-mile route to Fort William in tribute to Frodi, who died after an 18-month battle with bone cancer.
“It was very emotional in the last 5K,” she said. “I was kind of starting to think of how far I had come and that it was an incredible experience.
“It was really good to reach my goal. I was also quite sad to be leaving the trail though, because it was a really emotional experience.”
The 17-year-old raised more than £4100 doing the trail for Bone Cancer Research.
Frodi (9), who was in P6 at Balloch Primary, was described as amazing by his sister, who has just finished S6 at Culloden Academy. Arden completed the trail in 13 days after training for 12 weeks.
When asked if she would ever do the trail again, Arden said: “I would not do the Cape Wrath Trail again but I would probably do sections of it that I found particularly beautiful. There are other places in Scotland to experience.”
The hardest part of the trail for Arden was the fourth day.
She had spent the night in a bothy so she “was quite cheerful but I was not quite prepared for the climb. I climbed up but it turned out to be the wrong path... It was one of the only mistakes I made maps-wise.”
In terms of any future fundraising plans, she said: “Possibly, but I have nothing planned at all right now. I will be going to university in September, so I am just focusing on that now.”
Arden will be heading to the University of Stirling to study environmental science and outdoor education.
Frodi travelled to Glasgow for an array of tests and treatments and tried cancer drugs, including one to prevent lung tumours but it did not work and he died of the cancer growing in his lungs.
