A group joined together to raise money for The Josh Evans Trust Fund. They were attempting to complete the 3 Peaks Challenge, where they had to summit Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, the 3 highest peaks of Scotland, England and Wales in under 24 hours.
Two mini buses set off at 3.45 AM on Thursday 14th July from North Petherton for a very long journey up to Scotland. On the buses were 7 walkers, 4 drivers and 3 support staff.
The Drivers:
David Satchel
Jerry Upfield
Avril Frost
Nick Prince
The Support Crew:
Joan Upfield
Matt Angel
Tracy Evans
And the Walkers:
Lloyd Williams
Miles McNeillie
Harley Brown
John Evans
Gavin Kyte
Mark Goodwin
John Coram
Some of the group had never met before, but they all returned as friends as they went through so much together in such a short space of time.
The challenge didn't go smoothly from the outset. Ben Nevis (1344m) did it's very best to slow the walkers, with staff at the Ben Nevis Tourist Centre, only one hour after the walkers had been on the mountain, saying to the support team "it's closing in up there and it's not looking too good at all, we would be very surprised if they make it to the top". After a mammoth 5hr climb the walkers returned, literally jumped straight into the buses, were handed some food and headed off to the next challenge.
The challenge took a major set back as within minutes of leaving Fort William the crew came across a road closure, a vital road at that, and the drivers were sent on a massive 1hr diversion through the middle of the night on some very thin and winding roads.
After such a set back the team were determined to climb Scafell Pike (978m) as fast as they could. A brisk pace was set from the outset and the team reached the top in a far quicker time than they had expected. The descent also was completed in a blistering pace. The walkers finished the climb in 3hrs! And again as soon as they got to the car park were on the road again.
The team on route to Snowdon (1085m) became split, as one mini bus was so much slower than the other and had a smaller fuel tank. In hindsight all agreed that the walkers should have crammed into the fast bus and arrived at Snowdon together. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The lead bus walkers arriving 1hr before their teammates were instructed to start the climb for fear that the other bus would be too far behind for the 2nd group to complete the challenge in the set 24hrs.
The lead group managed it in 23:00hrs. The 2nd group, would only have 3 ½ hours to get up and down Snowdon, which would be very hard going. The trailing 3 walkers would have to jog up and down to have a chance of finishing in time. The 3 of them did it in an amazing 2 hours 54 minutes, to finish just a half hour behind the other group.
The whole experience was amazing, although very tiring, and the team would recommend it to anyone who has ever thought about doing it. (Just make sure you use some vehicles capable of 70 mph on the motorway !).
Many thanks to everyone for your support, please see www.justgiving.com/teams/jetf-3peaks for an update on fund raising, and a few pictures.
Many thanks also to our main sponsors:
Falcon Hire
PC Comms
Western Fuels
JUAL Clothing
