Always on
This project successfully funded on 10th September 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Fraser x Badger Divide Crowdfunder
Stirling, United Kingdom
Aim
Riding the 340km off road ‘Badger Divide’ linking Inverness to Glasgow in one continuous ride to raise awareness of mental health challenges
My name is Fraser Cartmell and I am 43 years old. I retired from professional triathlon (Ironman racing latterly) in 2018. Throughout my adult life - since midway through my university degree, I have had debilitating spells of depressive waves that have impacted me and by extension those close to me, in various ways. These dark “black dog” times have always occurred in some way as result to my time in the sport and as such I want to be able to do something to tell my story, through some aspect of my sport; triathlon.
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After I retired from racing I moved directly into a presenting role on a YouTube channel that focused on triathlon related content, and I did that for nearly 3 years. That new found media understanding coupled with my endurance background and all of the contacts within the industry that I made over a decade and more of racing, has given me quite a few tools to be able to do something “to tell my story”.. I just wasn’t sure what I would do and how exactly I would do it. Close friends who I respected suggested I write a book (who knows, maybe one day..) and others talked about doing ‘an event’.. maybe a race of some sort.
However, after my most recent - and probably the most debilitating - spell of depression, which in all truth lasted close to 18 months on and off, started to end in the Springtime of this year (whether the clocks changing at this time is merely a coincidence, I am intrigued to try research some more) I was finally able to muster the courage to get back out on my bike. The most awful aspect of this last bout of depression for me, was the utter inability to get outside into the fresh air and exercise… For someone who made a livelihood from training and racing, this was very hard to wrap my head around.
With that in mind, the bike became my therapy of sorts… It was really quite remarkable how quickly I was able to turn the corner and get regular, daily exercise completed; my weight (I had put on a significant amount of weight) began to drop, my fitness slowly increased and my rides became ever so slightly longer. I started to see progress and the proverbial snowball began rolling.
So, one day on a ride, during the amazing spell of good weather we had in Scotland towards the middle of May, I decided that my challenge would be The Badger Divide, in the North-South direction, from Inverness to Glasgow. I have ridden it once as part of a photoshoot for my old sponsors, Castelli but we took a leisurely 4 days to complete the 340k distance; my challenge to myself this time is ‘how fast can I complete the ride and will that get me close to the current FKT (Fastest Known Time)’. However, should I manage that, I will not be setting an FKT as this challenge will be fully supported with follow vehicles, creating the notion of an “ironman esque rolling aid station” setup. My thinking being - if I can create the conditions that best mimic how I used to race, I will give myself the best chance of riding as fast as I can. And true to my former YouTube presenting self, I want to make a video about the ride, where we can explore “how the bike helped to ‘save’ me from the black dog”.
And so for at least 6-8 weeks this challenge / idea has rattled around in my own head, without me telling anyone. I understood how many variables there were, and quite frankly the chances of them all fitting together into a neat jigsaw puzzle seemed far fetched at best. Nonetheless I plugged away, reaching out to old friends, colleagues and contacts in the industry.. and long story short, against almost all odds; I am happy to report - we have a film project.
My old colleague at the YouTube channel, Hugh was our lead creator but is now freelance and luckily has spare time in his diary at the end of August; I also trust Hugh implicitly with dealing with the storyline that we want to convey throughout, and that means a lot to me. Amazingly my dear old pal, Lesley Paterson, who of course is a multiple World Champion off road triathlete in her own right, but is now an Oscar winning film producer after her wonderful film ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’. Wonderfully, Les has offered her vast experience to Hugh in the edit phase so they can make the best film possible that can have the biggest reach we can muster to tell the story. I am extremely grateful to have these guys on board. Further still, Mark Beaumont, the round the world record holder, has been extremely generous with his time and offering feedback along the way, which I am awfully grateful for.
In terms of partners for the project, again, I have been extremely fortunate that so many of my old sponsors, and some new ones too, have happily leaned in to help make this video look as good as we can.
My old apparel sponsor, Castelli have wonderfully stepped up as presenting partner, offering their full array of YouTube, social media channels and podcast platform to promote and get the video ‘out there’. Other fantastic brands such as Factor Bikes, Precision Fuel & Hydration, Oakley and Coros have all generously stepped up with generous product support, at considerably short notice.
However, here’s the kicker to this story - I need to find some funds to make the entire project be viable, and that’s what I am here to ask you for your generosity and help. This is however a not for profit endeavour, and ideally we (Lesley suggested this) crowdfund significantly more than is needed to fund the filming costs and the remainder is all donated to the men’s mental health charity; ANDYSMANCLUB. That would make me feel very proud to have achieved that at the other end.
Undoubtedly it would be so much easier for me to go and do this on my own, and fail on my own… but now that I have told you, I have that layer of accountability … I don’t see it as pressure, I never did when I was racing, but it will most definitely add clarity to my mind when the going gets tough.
Some very old racing pals introduced me to the Canadian ice hockey player, Wayne Gretzky quote from his time at the Edmonton Oilers in the late 1980s, and it has always resonated with me, whether it be in sport or wider life;
“you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”…
So, the date is set; next weeks Tuesday 26th August, 0500 at Inverness castle. Sunset in Glasgow is 2032, so if I ‘chase the sun’ and somehow arrive before then, I will have set a new (unofficial) FKT as the current mark sits at 15 hour 36 minutes.
We will - I hope - have a ‘dot watching’ capability so you can track my dot southwards through the country and hopefully some social media updates where phone signal allows throughout the day.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made