Willie Naismith - one FIT Scotsman!

[Don_Serl]

I'm working my way thru Crocket and Richardson's "Ben Nevis", an interesting history of mountaineering on "Britain's Highest Mountain" (as the subtitle reads). Chapter 2 covers the first climbers, thru the period between 1866 - 1896. Prominent amongst them was one William Wilson Naismith, who is remembered for a variety of Scottish climbs and the eponymous 'Naismith's Rule', by which one can calculate the time required "for men in fair condition" to cover a certain amount of "easy" terrain: "namely, an hour for every three miles on the map, with an additional hour for every 2,000 feet of ascent" - still a very useful estimation tool today.

 

What boggled me, however, was the description of Naismith's personal ability to cover ground. After noting him as "always a prodigious walker", the authors describe the time when "at the age of 60, in July 1916, he walked from Glasgow to the summit of Ben Lomond and back again; 100km in 20 hours, including stops. When asked by his young nephew John Fergus what food he carried on this expedition, Naismith replied that he found a bag of raisins in his pocket quite good".

 

Great gods! Not many of us could come close to that, I suspect, even at a considerably 'sprightlier' age! Of course, modern ultra-marathon times for 100kms are in the 7 hour range, but Willie wasn't equipped with shorts and Nikes (luckily, since he'd likely have perished, given the Scottish weather), nor was he 'running'...

 

Cheers,