How did we team up?

As everything in life, fate had a strong hand in bringing us and this project together.

Holly strikes a pose, as Tom reaches the Terri hut

In August 2015, a common acquaintance, Timon, organized a 3-day trail running training camp in the Swiss mountains, encompassing the Greina plateau. The weather and mood was great at the start as we ran with loaded backpacks slowly upwards towards the Terri hut where we were to spend the next two nights at 2100m elevation. 

But after only about 10km Timon slipped and fell hard on some wet rocks along the river. He was bleeding heavily from a gash under his chin, at least one tooth was chipped, his tongue began to swell and a headache started to set in. We quickly sorted through out first aid supplies and patched him up as well as we could, but it was clear that we needed to get him to a hospital as quickly as possible.

So it was decided that Tom would run as fast as possible back to the start and get my car and drive up the mountain as far as he could while I would jog/walk with Timon along another trail that led down to the nearest access road. This took a while but Timon was in good spirits. Thus, after a thorough examination and a few stitches at the nearest hospital, Timon got on the next train back to Zürich.

 

But then I found myself with no place to stay and 4 hours from home at 7pm on a Friday night. Humph. So Tom invited me to stay with him and his family in their vacation home that night, with plans to go for a trail run up to the Greina plateau the next morning. All would not be lost! Needless to say, the weekend turned out to be a great time and we decided to stay in touch. 

Gorgeous views along the Transruinaulta

The next time we saw each other was several months later, again in Switzerland, where we both took part in the back-to-back races of the Transruinaulta (42.2 km, 1800 m elevation) on Saturday and the Transviamala (19km, 850 m elevation) on Sunday. Again, a weekend out of a fairy tale…I was falling in love with the Swiss Alps!

Entertainment along the route of the Transruinaulta

A week or so later Tom contacted me and asked me to join him in his endeavor to launch a charity project. He knew from our conversations that, in addition to also being a running addict, I was moved by the plight of the refugees in Europe and thought I’d complement his project perfectly. He was right. 

We are both very excited about this project and hope to find lots of like minds out there who agree with us and are willing to support Run4Refugees!

Tom & Holly enjoying the Transviamala