We love a challenge!
Aug 16, 2013By Adam Berry, Lead Resident Liaison Officer
Over the past few months I have been joined by friends and colleagues as we all train to compete in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the British Heart Foundation – a charity I feel very close to.
My partner suffered a massive heart attack two years ago and was left with disabling heart failure, he decided that it wasn’t a time to mope about and dwell but to take action and try to do something positive and make a difference. What better way than to organise a group of friends and work colleagues to raise money for The British Heart Foundations ” Mending Broken Hearts Appeal” which is raising awareness of Heart Failure and taking steps to find a cure through stem cells. I established a Just giving page and Facebook page to start a campaign to raise money for the charity.
The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes in the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, usually in this order, and the challenge is to complete in under 12 hours! These peaks form part of the Pennine range, and encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Obviously it’s not a walk that can be done without putting in a lot of training beforehand and we have worked with our friends at The Events Service who has been leading in the organisation, training and support.
As usual Emanuel Whittaker have been very generous and sponsored the walk by providing £200 which we have used to buy t-shirts (£5 donation per t-shirt), extra water, fruit and chocolate to help all the walkers keep going and complete the challenge. We also got a banner from this money and the company kindly provided us with first aid kits.
And so last week 16 of us set off to raise money for good causes. 12 were raising money for the British Heart Foundation and the rest for various other charities including Verity, a charity for women suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and the MS Trust. It was very hard going, blisters were a common theme but there was also lots of fun and games.
I don’t think anything can really prepare you for the walk; you go through a whole range of emotions, from feeling like you can’t take another step to laughing out loud when somebody falls in a boggy patch.
We kept our spirits up by supporting each other but also with the help of a great support team of five who gave us lots of encouragement and ensured that we all stayed safe. They also helped carry supplies so we didn’t have to worry about carrying too much. Gwyn Starkey, Gary Hardman, Carrie & Ian Hargreaves, Sarah Gilbert, baby Lucy, and Shaun McVeigh.
It was a great day and we all completed the challenge. Mark Healey and Ian McCune finished the challenge in an incredible 7 hours 40 minutes, followed by Andrea O’Hagan-Waite and Iain Waite in 10 hours 10 minutes. Louise Langford and Alex Whittaker came in at 10 hours 15 minutes, while myself, Belinda Swana and Dan Gilbert did it in 10 hours 30 minutes. Faye Didymus, Jon Daniels and Beverley Davies completed the course in 11 hours, 40 minutes.
Since the walk, Faye is on crutches due to ligament damages to her knee, and I was put on crutches due to a tendon sprain. Would we do it all again? You bet!
In collaboration with other fundraisers for the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal we have raised £1271.05 and there is still some sponsorship money to come back! Well done to everyone and thank you to our supporters, walkers and sponsors for their incredible help. You can still donate to the charity by clicking on this link http://www.justgiving.com/Adam-Berry1, and if you fancy joining us next year, let me know. Training starts soon!
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