3 Peaks Challenge 2012 PDF Print E-mail

 

Job done and what an achievement!

 

The team raised a grand total of £8252.22 and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who pledged money plus the companies who provided specific sponsorship.

Pictured below are 8 of the 10 man team presenting the cheque for £3000 to the club Chairman Mike Hughes at the recent junior presentation evening.

From left to right are Colin Nicholson, Stu Askey, Chris Jones, Kev Blackwell, Mark Farrel, Mike Hughes, Steve Williams, Trevor Tommy and Richie Cowley. Not pictured are Paul Penryn-Jones and John Atkins.

 

The team also presented cheques for £2500 each to Loz Harrison who was representing Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Mrs. Ann Steel-Mortimer who is a trustee at the Clwyd Special Riding School.

 

Pictured below are the 10 man team presenting the cheques to Loz (in red standing behind his son) and Ann.

 

From left to right are Chris Jones, Paul Penryn-Jones, Stu Askey, Mark Farrel, Loz Harrison, John Atkins, Ann Steel-Mortimer, Trevor Tommy, Richie Cowley, Colin Nicholson, Kev Blackwell, Steve Williams. Also in the picture are James Harrison (Loz's son) and Scarlett Cowley (Richie's daughter who attends the riding school).

 

More information on these charities can be found via the following links.

http://www.clwydspecialridingcentre.org.uk/

http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/

 

The team will also donate the amount of £252.22 to Mountain Rescue.

 

More Information on the challenge can be found in the article below.

 

The team completed the 3 Peaks Challenge in 23 hours and 21 minutes - total walking time was 11 hours 29 min.

We completed Snowdon in 2hrs 54mins, Scafell Pike in 3hrs 20mins and Ben Nevis in 5hrs 15mins.

 
It was extremely tough but also very rewarding and gave us all a great sense of achievement.
 
Below are some of the progress reports that were sent back to Northop to keep everyone updated, some photo's of our endevours and the original information that outlines both the challenge and the chariities that we have supported.
 
Snowdon:
Started on time at 10am, 1hr 35 up, 1hr 19 down. Rain when we arrived but no more until 20mins from end. Very windy all the way (40mph)with gusts above 50mph. Difficult to stand at times and only 10m visibility at top! Thanks Kev and the team
 
Scarfell Pike
Down at 9.20. Rough up top - bad wind and visibility but no rain. Freshened up and just had our boil in the bags on the go. All down OK and on time. Nav is saying Ben Nevis by 3.30 so should be OK. Catch up in the morning.
 
Ben Nevis:
What a mountain. Stared on time at 4am and down on time!!!! Very cold and windy on the summit with patches of snow in places. Were all relieved to be down and glad it's all over. Going into the youth hostel for a cuppa and then into town for a full English. Catch up later. The team ......
 
Some of the photo's are shown below >
 
The start at Snowdon ....... positive faces but weather not looking good!
 
 
Snowdon summit .......... very poor conditions but mountain summit done!
 
 
03.55hrs at Ben Nevis ....... the midges were biting but we were on target!
 
 
On route up Ben Nevis ........ getting cold but still going strong!
 
 
Job done!! At the hotel after a full breakfast, ready for a beer, swim and sauna
and then a few hours sleep before a night on the town .... all in that order!
 
 
Victorious and back at the club to a great welcome home, BBQ,
and a few beers with family and club members!
 
 
A big thanks to Ryan for the welome home banner ......
 
 
 
The additional information is what was posted on the website before the event. Take a look as a reminder of our preparation and the charities we are supporting.
 
 
Sponsorship & pledges now total over £7,200 which is an amazing amount!

Help us to achieve our stretched target of £7,500 - see how to do this below.

Team training - at the summit of Scafell Pike

Team training - start of NCC to Moel Famau walk

 

What is the 3 Peaks Challenge?

The 3 Peaks Challenge is an attempt to climb the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in 'one go' in under 24 hours which includes the travelling time between the mountains.

 

When and where does this take place?

We will start the challenge on Friday the 29th June 2012.

The 3 peaks are Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis and we will complete them in this order.

The challenge consists of approximately 26 miles of walking and 470 miles of driving which works out to roughly 12 hours driving and 12 hours walking. In total the ascent will be circa 10,000ft.

You can see this is a tough challenge and is not going to be easy. If the weather or traffic is against us we may not complete it in the allocated time. Experienced walkers regularly attempt this challenge and sometimes are not able to complete it within the 24 hours. That said it makes the achievement of this challenge all the more rewarding.

 

The timetable is as follows:

Location Arrival time Begin climb Return to base Duration Depart
Northop CC 0745  
 
 
0800
Snowdon 0930 1000 1300 3 hours 1315
Scafell Pike 1745 1800 2145 4 hours 2200
Ben Nevis 0415 0430 0930 5 hours  

 

The Challenge Team

 

 9 members of Northop Cricket Club whose powers of endurance are normally practised in the bar area!

Stuart Askey, John Atkins, Kev Blackwell, Richie Cowley, Mark Farrell, Chris Jones, Paul Penrhyn-Jones, Trevor Tommy & Steve Williams.

As a group we have been training hard since January and have been led by ex military man Mark ‘Faz’ Farrell – he is a hard task master and as part of the training we climbed Snowdon TWICE on the same day and as you can see in the photo it was bleak at the top in late April! We all felt the pain on this day especially as we gave ourselves over an hours break between the climbs in an attempt to replicate the challenge - this was just enough time for our muscles and joints to tighten up before setting off to the sumit for the second time.

Our fitness levels are improving every week which is a damn good thing as everyone in the team is the wrong side of 40 with most of us either 48 or 50+!!!

We are out training every week. We use several different routes around Moel Famau with our latest being from the NW side of Moel Arther heading along the Offa's Dyke Path to the top of Moel Famau taking us around 2 hours 12 minutes for the return walk.

On the 20th May we climbed Scafell Pike for the first time (now that's a mountain!!) and on the 2nd June we launched our sponsorship campaign to the club members as the 1st XI commenced their home game v’s Llandudno. On this day we completed the 19.5 mile return walk from the clubhouse going across country to the top of Moel Famau. This took the 5 available team members 5 hours 44 minutes which included a small map reading error seeing us back at the same style, a stop at the Hand PH in Gwernaffield for a quick pint (essential when available) and being chased out of a field by pigs!

The last few weeks have seen a number of training walks completed. A very enjoyable route saw us taking just over 3 hours to walk (at pace) from south of Moel y Parc transmiting station over Penycloddiau, Moel Arthur to Moel Famau and back again.

We put the final plans in place at a meeting at the club last Friday. Our driver "Parker" (Colin) told us how he would keep us focused, fed and watered and get us to each location on time. We have checked that the mini bus is not speed restriced so we should be OK to maintain good (legal) time along the route. Parker did say "map, what map, I've got the Sat Nav!"  

 

 

A reminder of what are we doing it for?

 

The aim is to raise money for the following good causes:

 

Riding for the Disabled (RDA): Through the use of their horses and ponies provide therapy, achievement and enjoyment to people with disabilities. Skills specific to RDA such as riding, horse welfare and stable management can open the door to more general learning in areas including literacy, numeracy, arts and crafts. We are supporting this charity as one of team members has a strong connection and we would like to assist this cause.

 

Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research: Another great cause and several of our team members know people who are affected by this condition. Over the past few years we have supported this cause by helping raise funds with various cycle rides with the next one being along the North Wales coastal path on July 7th.

Sponsorship raised as part of the 3 Peaks Challenge will also be donated to this charity as part of our efforts in this cycle ride.

 

Mountain Rescue Service: Hopefully something that we won’t need to call upon! This is an essential service and has saved many lives. It is a registered charity & a national body that supports rescue teams across England and Wales and is staffed entirely by volunteers who rely solely on the support and generosity of the public.

 

Northop Cricket Club – Junior Section: To help us to continue to provide the equipment and resources for the continued development of the junior cricketers. The club offers some of the best coaching facilities in the region and has helped to produce many excellent players who have gone onto play for North East Wales, Wales and West of England.

 

We have set up a PayPal Account that will allow us to collect sponsorship money (see link at the bottom of this article) and the team will also have sponsorship forms available.

 

All costs for the challenge will be covered by either the team members or through specific sponsorship arrangements.

 

All monies raised will go direct to the above causes and a full summary will be posted on the club website and in the pavillion.

 

As you can see we are looking to support a number of worthy causes and therefore any amount of money that you can contribute towards sponsoring our challenge will be greatly appreciated.

 

We will keep everyone updated on our preparation and as the challenge unfolds - watch this space!

 

 

The NCC 3 Peaks Challenge Team 2012

 

We started our sponsorship campaign on the 25th May.

So far we have sponsorship & pledges totalling over £7,200.

This is great progress towards our target of £7,500.

A big thanks to everyone who is supporting our efforts!

A special thanks to local companies Warwick Chemicals, Ball Packaging Europe and Airbus for their generous support.

 

Training Photos:

A wintery day on Snowdon - 21st April

The team on top of Snowden during training

Scafell on a clear day - 20th May

 
 

Club Sponsors