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Highland Cross

Highland Cross is a  50-mile duathlon (20 miles on foot, 30 miles on bike) traversing the spectacular Scottish Highlands coast to coast, west to east from Kintail through Glen Affric and Strathglass to Beauly.

Highland Cross exists to raise money for causes that benefit the people of Highland, disadvantaged by disability, ill health or social need.

Entry to the Highland Cross is by invitation only for 265 teams of 3 (795 persons) of all athletic abilities; walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists. Teams must pledge to raise a minimum of £500 in sponsorship for the charities nominated by Highland Cross.

Charities interested in becoming beneficiaries from Highland Cross should consult the "Charities" page and fully examine the funding conditions before applying.

7 January 2025

Highland Cross – 21st June 2025 – 41^st event – electronic entry application process 

We will again be using SiEntries www.sientries.co.uk for online team applications for the 2025 event.  Highland Cross will not be listed as one of their events as it is invitation only event.  SiEntries will be contacting all registered team contacts on 7 January 2025 with a single use link to allow them to apply for a team.  As in the past, balloting may be necessary in order to determine who will be invited to take part.  

The entry fee is £75 per person (£225 per team entry).

For further information on the entry process, please see the notes in the FAQs section.

To Hotmail users

To add SiEntries to your Safe Senders list in Hotmail to ensure you receive future emails:

1.       Click on the settings gear icon at the top right of Outlook.com

2.       Click View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the pop-out menu

3.       Go to Email > Junk email

4.       In the Safe senders and domains section click Add and type in sientries.co.uk, press Enter and Save

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15th November 2024

HIGHLAND CROSS 2024 – 40^th running of the event

Highland Cross reaches over £6.3million!

The figure raised in 2024 from Highland Cross participants is £368,295!

On 14 November 2024, the 4 principal charities received presentations:

Cantraybridge – are purchasing a new minibus

Highland BlindCraft – are purchasing a new van

Highland Disability Sport – are purchasing a new minibus

L’Arche Highland – are purchasing a new vehicle

In addition to the primary causes, the participants’ success will also allow some smaller grants to be distributed to charities across Highland over the next month.

The Organisers would once again like to thank competitors, sponsors and volunteers for their continued support of Highland Cross.

The two teams comprising of folk from the Edinburgh based investment management firm Baillie Gifford and Dell Technologies (Richard McGrail, Tom Stockwell, Kenny Hamilton, Stuart Dunbar, Gareth Owen and Stephen Bosarge) raised an astonishing sum of £26,229 as the top fundraisers this year and the top standard three person team is a team called “Heathers Heroes” comprising of Ryan Magennis, Donal Bolger and Mike Roberts who raised a magnificent figure of £7,520.

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2nd September 2024 – 12noon

SORRY – THE LIST TO RECEIVE A TEAM APPLICATION FOR HIGHLAND CROSS 2025 IS NOW CLOSED.

From the replies received from 2024 competitors, unsuccessful applications from previous years and new applications, we are again oversubscribed.  We have this morning received a large number of emails requesting that their names be added to the list to receive a link to apply for a team at the beginning of January 2025.  If everyone returns their completed applications, we will again be involved in balloting.

All requests received up to 12noon today will be added to the list and are being acknowledged.

The Organisers apologise to anyone who wished to add their name to the list but can only suggest that if they are interested in Highland Cross 2026, they mark 1st September 2025 in their diary as the date to register for a team application for 2026.

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16th July 2024

For latest update and lost property, see News Bulletin tab above for Bulletin no 9.

June 2024

Highland Cross 2024 took place on Saturday 22 June 2024.  752 competitors started the event with 744 completing the course and 8 retirements.  Click here for the full list of results.

Photography

Click here to view images from Alligin Photography.

Click here to view images from David Stewart.

Justgiving

If you have not done so already, here are some notes to help with setting up a Justgiving fundraising page, how to share through social media and how to set up a QR code to your mobile

1. Link to set up a Justgiving page

Justgiving - click here to set up a fundraising page for the 2024 event.

2. Donations through social media

You don’t need to be a social media guru to know the power of social media, particularly when fundraising for charities.  It can be a great way to promote your fundraising campaign and you just have to incorporate a link to take people to your donation page (see below).

There are a few different ways you can incorporate a link, for example:

• List your link in your social media profile bio

• Create a post on your page centred around your link

• Use the link in your Instagram or Facebook stories

3. QR codes

What’s a QR Code?  It’s an image that can take people through to your website donation page when it is scanned by a device. Use your QR code at fundraising events from coffee mornings to ceilidhs.

Use this link to help you create a QR code to take people to your fundraising page:

How do I create a QR code for my Fundraising page? – JustGiving Help

Cantraybridge

Cantraybridge is Highland’s unique further education college for young adults with additional support needs, and a crucial element in the educational and care landscape in our region. We’re rightly ambitious that our young people fulfil their potential and become valued members of their communities. 

Due to the lack of educational and care services for young adults with additional support needs, Cantraybridge College wishes to continue to develop bespoke programme of support, therapy and care for these young people, all of whom struggle to access conventional educational facilities.

We have an immediate and pressing benefit to replace our dilapidated 17-seater minibus, which is becoming increasingly expensive in terms of repairs.    

A new minibus would allow us to maintain and expand our crucial services.  These include student transport to/from college; outings for educational, health, social and leisure purposes and for holidays. We cannot operate without our transport, and we cannot expand our unique services to reach young people with additional support needs without this.

We’d also like to welcome more nursery/school groups to our 19-acre campus to enjoy our outdoor educational facilities, and to invite more older people’s groups for leisure visits.  Reliable transport would also enhance our Highland wide employability/enterprise services.

A gift of a minibus would be a prayer answered, potentially bringing immediate and sustained benefits to a range of disadvantaged people across Highland.

We are deeply grateful to the Highland Cross selection panel for considering our application.

Highland BlindCraft

Highland BlindCraft is an ethically run commercial charity, employing and supporting local people across Inverness and the Highlands.

Highland BlindCraft funds its workplace and education through the manufacture and retail of high-quality mattresses, divans and headboards – with all items handmade to standard or bespoke measurements in its city-centre factory in Inverness. 

Across Scotland, the employment rate for disabled people aged 16-64 is 49.6% – significantly lower than the rate for non-disabled people (80.8%). This is why, for generations, we’ve supported those in our community, who might otherwise be overlooked, gain employment in a supportive environment that builds confidence and offers invaluable workplace experience.

Having adapted our services over the years, we’ve been able to provide a range of opportunities for skills development and training that would not ordinarily be available in a working environment to those living with a disability. This includes continuing our legacy by teaching practical skills in mattress and bed-making, as well as providing courses in IT, numeracy and literacy, and industry certification in accounting, digital marketing and health and safety.

Highland BlindCraft’s current delivery van is nearing the end of its life and will require replacement. This is in integral part of the stellar customer service Highland BlindCraft provides its customers, and without a replacement van there would be detrimental knock-on effects to Highland BlindCraft sales. A new van provided by Highland Cross would allow Highland BlindCraft to continue driving sales in order to provide support for people working with disabilities.

Highland Disability Sport

People with disabilities miss out on group/club activities as they have been unable to access adequate transport to meet their needs. This also impacts on them travelling to participate at a national level in their chosen sports as the cost of hiring can be expensive and there is no guarantee they will be able to hire as availability for specialised transport is limited.

There are more clubs/groups now from around the Highlands that need support and with no available specialised transport available, miss their events. Being part of a club/group activity is a particularly important part of a disabled persons life as the fellowship gives them social interaction with others, prevents isolation and is good for their mental health.

Highland Disability Sport have a proven record at a Local/National level of taking teams in all sports to events all around the country. This has led to many getting selected for National Teams representing their country as well as the Highlands in their chosen sports. Having been curtailed without its own mini-bus over the last 3 years participants young and old have potentially missed some of these opportunities.

We have recently appointed a new events coordinator to encourage more activities and have also identified drivers that would be used to support the groups. They would undergo the necessary mini-bus training required for Highland Disability Sport to transport individuals or teams to events whether in Highland Area or to National events.  This bus would be accessible to groups all over Highlands to assist them in transport needs not met currently.

L'Arche Highland

L’Arche Highland is one of 11 vibrant and inclusive Communities that make up L’Arche in the UK, where people with and without learning disabilities live and work together to build a more human world for everyone.  Each has its own Leadership Team, bank account and budget which means we operate with a significant level of autonomy and subsidiarity.  

In January 2023, our Support Service was rated “Grade 6: Excellent”, the highest possible by the Scottish Social Care Inspectorate, for its level of compassion, dignity and respect. 

We have been part of Highland life since 1975 when Braerannoch on Drummond Crescent, Inverness was gifted to us. Four people living on institutional wards at Craig Phadrig Hospital were invited to move there and share a home.   More than 70 people now access our services through four residential houses, supported living and over-subscribed, interesting day programmes.  Whichever provision one chooses, everyone is invited to Community events and is part of the L’Arche Highland.

Highland Cross funding would help purchase a 7 seater MPV with additional safety and care features.  It will be used for individual and pooled journeys to and from our day workshops, outings, attending health appointments and visiting friends and family, significantly enhancing the lives of those we support and adding an extra dimension to our Community.

We are deeply grateful for being selected as a beneficiary of the 2024 Highland Cross and we wish the athletes well with their training and offer our heartfelt thanks to sponsors, volunteers and organisers.

Highland Cross have signed up with JustGiving to enable competitors to set up their own sponsorship page.  Click here to set up a page for 2024.