Highland 50k Ultra Challenge in Memory of Neil Mac

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Neil Mackenzie’s passing, in a mountaineering accident in January 2015. He was one of my oldest childhood friends, and it was such a privilege to have known him. I think about Neil all the time and miss him so much.

In his memory, together with my pal Elliott, we are doing a 50k Ultramarathon by Loch Ness on May 4th, raising money for the Neil Mackenzie Trust. Every donation helps keep Neil’s spirit of adventure alive. It’s fitting that we get to do this event where Neil Mackenzie and I grew up.

Neil was the sweetest and kindest person you could ever hope to meet. Whenever you spoke to someone who had met him, their face would light up and they’d instantly be in a good mood, excited to recall some crazy adventure stories they’d had with him.

Although his life was tragically short, he truly lived on his own terms and took so much joy in everything he did. He had so many passions, from talking about Scottish breakfasts with deep reverence, to inspiring everyone at an after party to listen to Runrig; but above all, he had the deepest sense of wonder for being out in the wild. He loved the most beautiful and harsh landscapes in the world more than anything and getting to climb a mountain with him made the experience exponentially more awe-inspiring.

The last time we did a fundraising challenge for Neil, the Tough Mudder Infinity, I wrote that everyone who knew Neil was made a better person by him. Despite it being 10 years now since his death, I feel this now, more than ever.

Finally, I wanted to share this wonderful poem written by my brother (also called Neil), which captures Neil Mac perfectly:

OUR FRIEND

For Neil Mackenzie

(29/09/83 – 11/01/15)

You were enthusiasm’s blaze,

You were a happy, constant thing,

You taught us – all of us – the ways

In which a life can rise, ascend,

Inspire – can end but in its end transcend

Its limits and can sing

In every one of us the vast

And nitid, coruscating joy

That you imparted in your friendships –

Something death shall NOT destroy

As we endeavour, in your name,

To keep that life-enriching fire

Of humour, passion, and desire

For all adventure bright, aflame –

You were, and are, the most accepting, kind

And animated friend

That your expansive wake of gratitude

Will ever apprehend and I DEFY

The blank of death to hold that energy and love,

As I will FIGHT to let it ramify –

To let it branch in company, and rise, and soar above

The open clarity of mountaintops, the beauty of the land

That was your nourishment and happiness.

Live in us. Expand

The sphere of fellowship and joy

That found its origin in THAT laughing thing within my memory:

A cheerful little boy

Who made a friend of me – and all of us:

Uncomplicated Neil

Who knew, BACK THEN, the ways of happiness –

The only thing that’s real,

Which is the numen of the feelings

That we each to each impart

And that grew monstrous in vivacity

When fed and shared and cultivated

Richly in that heart

That beats as yet, intact but disparate,

Its echo in our own –

Now sunk in sorrow

But infused with you: to rise again,

Not now, but in a humbler new tomorrow

In which each of us recalls the easy triumph of your soul –

Which is in death as bright as newly-forged:

The joy of being together, as a single, greater whole.

By Neil Grant