The Non-Competitive, Competitive Sport

The benefits of hiking with St Andrews Breakaway

Anyone who plays a competitive sport knows the thrill of finally meeting your opponent in the flesh. Catching their eyes over the net, jogging past them onto the pitch, stretching beside them at the start line — the imagined and awaited contest finally becomes real.

But what if there’s no adversary at the other end of the court? No challenger at your shoulder?

What if your only competitor is yourself?

Breakaway — the university’s hillwalking and hiking society — gives students the chance to venture beyond the St Andrews bubble and explore Scotland. Hiking offers the perfect way for students to build both physical and mental resilience, where the real challenge isn’t your opponent, but the strength of your own resolve.

Mary McKeegan, the society’s Merch Officer, has been on her fair share of hikes, witnessing some of the most spectacular views and enduring the harshest weather that Scotland has to offer.

“To ‘win’ when you hike is a very personal qualification,” McKeegan told The Saint. “For me, to truly achieve all the benefits of hiking requires great personal intention and an understanding of why you are spending your time outdoors in this way.” 

The rewards are as varied as the hikes themselves. “Some days, it’s about the satisfaction of hard physical exertion on a difficult trail leading to a spectacular view,” she explained. “Others, it is simply about the appreciation of nature and the opportunity to experience its beauty, rain or shine.”

Despite the gruelling tests a tough hike can present, it is brilliant for your mental health. At some point, we’ve all been told to get outside, to move our bodies and talk with others in order to shake off stress or get out of a rut. Hiking offers all of this with the bonus of stunning scenery, weather permitting.

Unlike the setting for traditional competitive sports, nature is no sports hall. It’s not an adversary (though at times it might seem uncooperative). There’s no scorecard beyond the tally of blisters and no medal — just, perhaps, a snood. 

“I don’t consider hiking to be a competitive sport,” McKeegan continued. “Though there are elements of personal challenge that I think you could see as a form of self-competition — like how many Munros you’ve climbed or how your ability has improved when you revisit a hike.”

The lack of a direct opponent is hiking’s greatest strength: you get out what you put in. If you’re looking for a serious challenge, you can opt for one of Breakaway’s ‘high-level’ hikes, which may involve some scrambling or the use of ice axes and crampons. 

There is also so much for competitive athletes to learn from hiking, alongside the physical test.

“A couple of the greatest overlaps [between hiking and other sports] are in the roles of endurance, mindfulness and, in the case of Breakaway: teamwork!” McKeegan concluded.

Hiking is a great lesson in composure. Sudden weather changes and navigational mix-ups can be planned for, but executing said plan is another matter. To hike is to embrace unpredictability — nothing is a given, and that is part of the experience. 

Few things test patience and perseverance like surprise downpours that strike before you can zip up your coat, a slip on a steep descent, or a fog that descends just as you reach the summit.

As Nan Shepherd wrote in her book The Living Mountain, a love-letter to the Cairngorms: “Often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend with no intention but to be with him.”

Hiking may seem like a sport of summits and stamina, but its true gift lies in its ability to cultivate mindfulness and resilience — all while offering the chance to spend a day immersed in Scotland’s natural beauty. A lesson every athlete and non-athlete could use. 

Image by Breakaway