Tom Smith, who has been hailed as one of his country’s greatest ever players, played six successive Test matches for the British and Irish Lions and, like Townsend, captained Scotland. He died in April 2022 from colon cancer at just 50 years old.
The former Glasgow Caledonians, Brive and Northampton Saints prop crafted a stellar reputation as an unyielding front-row forward with an extraordinary skillset in open play.
Later this month, Townsend, joined by his wife, Claire, Tom’s widow Zoe, and 11 other amateur trekkers, will set out to scale four peaks in four days on the Ginza Ridge in the northern Japanese Alps. The challenge is the brainchild of colon cancer charity 40tude, of which Smith was patron and aims to raise £100,000 to establish the 'Tom Smith Screening Fund', which will pay for colon cancer screening in younger people.
By 2030, it is expected that colon cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related death in men and women under 50 globally, while, since the early 1990s, the incidence of colon cancer in the UK for 25-49 year-olds has increased by 50%.
Townsend said: “Tom was one of the best players to ever play for Scotland. To play in the professional era and be so consistent both at club level but, in particular, when he got to play for Scotland and the Lions, made him special. He was often one of the best players, if not the best player, on the field.
"He was unusual for a prop in that he had the strength to cope and thrive in the scrums, but also was one of the most skilful players. He could easily have played in the backline, which was probably what he wanted to do! Any player who played six Tests in a row at Lions level has to be special.”
Setting out at 4am each day from 30 September to 3 October, the intrepid 14 will climb:
Mount Tsubakuro – 2,763m;
Mount Otensho – 2,922m;
Mount Jonen – 2,857m; and
Mount Chogatake – 2,677m.
That’s a total elevation gain of 2,862m over the period. Townsend and his wife have been walking in the Eildon Hills near their home in the Scottish Borders as part of the preparation for the trip and he has also done a charity climb in the Atlas mountains in Morocco in the recent past.
“This will be tougher,” explained Townsend. “It will certainly challenge the fitness and it’s a day more and a higher range than in the Atlas mountains. The weather has a chance of being very variable. When you get to such a high altitude, you get extremes of hot and cold, but we’ll just have to embrace it.”
He added: “It’s important for a number of reasons – mainly to do it in Tom’s name. Tom was an ambassador for 40tude, a charity set up to reduce the number of people affected by colon cancer. We want to make sure that Tom’s legacy in that role and his memory is driving us forward. The money we raise here can really help the charity make a difference.”
Zoe Smith, Tom's wife, said: “In doing this trek in Japan, it’s an opportunity to keep the work that Tom was doing, going.”
You can support Gregor Townsend and the team's climb in Japan here, while further information about 40tude and their challenges can be found here.
