23 May 2007

Three Peaks Challenge Success

Staff from Queen’s Leisure Centre are celebrating after successfully completing the challenge of a lifetime by conquering the Three Peaks Challenge. This involved scaling the three highest peaks in Britain within 24 hours.

The Queen’s Leisure Centre Team consisted of Mick Sharman, Jackie Keeling, Rob Kohut, Sean Silkstone, Ali Mohammadi and guide Des Barlow. They began the challenge on Saturday 19 May but were almost immediately faced with having to cancel their attempts as heavy snow, ice and gale force winds forced the team to reverse their route and begin at Snowdon that was forecast to have marginally better weather. This is normally the least favoured approach by challengers as it means finishing with the highest and hardest of all the climbs, Ben Nevis.

“We now know why it is called the Three Peaks Challenge!” noted Mick Sharman. Unperturbed, they started at blistering pace, fighting through bad weather to complete Snowden in just three hours. This followed with Scafell Pike also being conquered in just three hours, giving the team a sense that nothing could stop them.

Travelling onto the final climb up Ben Nevis, a long and difficult drive in treacherous weather conditions was faced. With fatigue setting in, heartbreak was just around the corner as the minibus broke down, forcing the team to stop the clock. It looked like the challenge was over but after three hours the minibus was repaired so the clock was restarted and the scaling of Ben Nevis began.

The climb proved to be just as difficult as anticipated with some of the team members carrying slight injuries and Ben Nevis being covered in deep snow drifts above 1200 metres. However, perseverance paid off and the climb was completed in just five hours, giving a combined hike and drive time of 23 hours and 15 minutes for the Three Peak Challenge, a marvellous achievement.

“Reaching the top of Ben Nevis was the highlight of the challenge due to the considerable effort everyone had to put in to achieve this” commented Mick Sharman. Altogether, the efforts of the group raised approximately £600. This will be donated to one of the Mayor’s charities, the Kings Lodge Neurological Rehabilitation Unit. All were very pleased with the time considering the bad weather faced but vowed never to complete the challenge or set foot on a mountain again… that is, until fatigue subsided and the question was asked… anyone for next time?