Kevin Ferrie on Thursday: It was a grey afternoon with rain in the air in Fort William last Saturday. As we prepared to run up the far from inspiringly named Cow Hill, many of the participants looked close to tears as the principal organiser tried to cheer them with words of welcome and encouragement.

It was a grey afternoon with rain in the air in Fort William last Saturday. As we prepared to run up the far from inspiringly named Cow Hill, many of the participants looked close to tearsas the principal organiser tried to cheer them with words of welcome and encouragement. Yetthe inaugural Gallop and Grind was, quite simply, one of the most spiritually uplifting events in which most of those taking part had ever been involved.

Regular readers of The Herald may remember the name. Last month I reported how, in spite of having been given the worst possible prognosis, cancer sufferer Sharon Fraser had continued to be the event's driving force, her aim being to provide improved facilities for long-term hospital-bound patients in the oncology units at Fort William's Belford and Inverness's Raigmore.

A quite lovely woman, her strength has been astonishing. She spoke impressively to those assembled masses before the race and at the beginning of the awards ceremony, which preceded a good old-fashioned ceilidh in the town's Nevis Centre after the event.

Just as so many of those listening to her had been, she was clearly moved by the response. Initial targets had been to get around 300entrants and to raise £40,000. In the end, some 750 people ran, cycled and walked the course on Sharon's behalf. With her husband Alasdair's building company alone having raised in the region of £13,000, she reckoned, by Saturday night, they were on course to pass the £70,000 mark once all sponsorship, pledges and donations had been brought in.

While, by duathlon standards, it was by no means at the extreme end of things, so many of those taking part were complete novices that the course was, to say the least, challenging.

The "Gallop" bit was billed as a 3-mile run up and around Cow Hill, incorporating an overall climb of around 700 feet. In the event, many locals reckoned the distance was at least four miles over terrain better suited to orienteering.

The "Grind" was meant to be a 9-mile cycle and might have been a little shorter. For those unused to mountain biking over woodland terrain, it was quite far enough whatever the distance.

I know that, thanks to the generosity of readers of The Herald.

My good pal Ally Henderson, the managing director of MM Henderson Jewellers and a director of The Running Company in Bridge of Allan, had first brought Sharon's story to my attention. It was also his bright idea to invite readers to sponsor me to take part.

This is the opportunity to offer my deepest thanks to those who did. I have responded directly to those who gave contact details, butmany did not, including one man in Edinburgh who simply sent a cheque for £500.

Of course the down side was that there was no way out once that had happened, and typically my approach was rather cavalier. Aleading duathlon coach offered some advice on how to deal with the transition. Somehow or another I never got round to taking it, thinking that a reasonable amount of running over the winter should get me through the hill climb while riding a bike is, well, like riding a bike, isn't it?

Those nine miles on a racing saddle will live long in what might, most politely, be termed the muscle memory . . .

My 46th place among the 50 who had signed up for the "elite" event - never has a term been more loosely applied - represented a major success. Those who entered the lesser categories and rattled past me, I leave to wrestle with their consciences. All I know is that a time of 1 hour 34 minutes was six minutes inside the guideline time for we elite performers.

Ally's own involvement was, meanwhile, a measure of how Sharon's story had affected people. There was no commercial benefit to his businesses since there are no retail outlets for either within 50 miles of Fort William. This was simply down to personal friendship. It was clear, looking at both the numbers and the demeanour of those taking part, that the same applied to many among the hundreds of mainly local people who were in the field.

At the awards ceremony Ally explained that his highly commendable 19th-place finish, had partly been down to pushing Callum Fraser, Sharon's son, off hisbike to ensure that the 12-year-old winner of the junior event did not pass him.

In more a serious vein, another of the sponsors, a local lawyer, thanked Sharon not just for the charity effort but for putting together such a magnificent community event. Down in the central belt, we tendto assume that is much more apart of Highland life, but he notedthat it had been a long time since anything like that had happened inFort William.

In so many ways the Sharon Fraser Gallop and Grind was a greattriumph.