On the 24th September a motley group of us will make an attempt at the Three Peaks Challenge. For those of you unfamiliar with the Three Peaks challenge, it involves summiting the highest peak in each of Scotland, England and Wales:

Scotland - Ben Nevis (1344m)
Wales - Snowdon (1085m)
England - Scafell Pike (978m)

While none of these peaks is quite the obstacle presented by K2, the challenge lies in having to summit all three within 24 hours, including travel time. The itinerary we've opted for has us starting the challenge with Ben Nevis at 5pm on the 24th of September. We expect to summit and return in 5 hours, before setting off for a 7 hour overnight drive to Scafell Pike, which we also expect to take 5 hours. A mad dash to Snowdon for another 4-5 hour climb and we hope to finish up at 5pm on the 25th. It doesn't leave much breathing space for bad weather or bad traffic, but with a fair wind its do-able by a competent team with a good level of fitness and hill climbing experience. Sadly none of our team fit that description, but we're going to try anyway.

In the hopes that our 24 hours of suffering (more to do with Mark moaning than sore feet I suspect) will be worthwhile, we will be raising money for the Institute of Cancer Research. A few of us have personal reasons for chosing this charity, and we wanted to raise money for one of the less ‘high profile’ charities that draw so much of the charity collection. All of us agreed that the valuable work that the ICR and the Royal Marsden do is exceptional and a very worthy cause; please give generously so that they can continue to advance their research, and provide their wonderful levels of care through Royal Marsden NHS.  Many of us have had some experience in our lives with family members or friends afflicted with cancer; in some cases it has meant loss, in others a long and difficult period of uncertainty, treatment and slow recovery. I hope you’ll agree that anything we can do to advance the treatment and improve care for those afflicted is worthwhile, and help us celebrate the lives of those near to us who have survived the disease, and the memories of those who did not.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.