In October, Steve decided to e-mail four friends re an idea for a 2010 challenge. ‘The National Three Peaks Challenge’ is a well known phrase amongst the more adventurous (so the official website says) –  erm not sure how we fall into this category. It involves climbing the 3 highest mountains in the – Ben Nevis in (1344m), Scaffel Pike in (978m) and Snowdon in (1085m) within 24 hours. We also have to descend them and travel between them all by road.

Mike and Andy were clearly caught off-guard/drunk/hungover/tired/in a rush or a combination thereof and agreed to it. Mike then enlisted Ben and since then we have also convinced Sarah and Karen to support us with promises that the scenery will be lovely and cooking on camping stoves is fun. I’m sure we must all be mad. We are going to start our initial climb at about 5pm on Friday 28th May in Scotland.

What fills me with confidence is that it’s not an organised event. Yes that’s right – it means we’ll have maps, compasses, first aid kits, emergency supplies, etc as well as hopefully a good sense of direction. Another snippet from the website – no one should under estimate the difficulty of the challenge. It is very easy to get lost, particularly when mountains need to be climbed in the dark or in poor weather.

The Team:

Steve Hermiston – The person who will clearly be blamed when we’re cold and wet! The oldest member of the team, but will be like a duck to water. I wonder how many times it will take us to utter the words “Steve, are we nearly there yet” to annoy him

Andy Potter –Youngest of the walkers. to cycle in 2009 is the only previous experience of the world of challenges. Having lost weight recently, he’s slightly upset that he’ll have to walk down the hills as opposed to rolling down them

Mike Hindley – A complete challenge junkie; Triathlons, Duathlon's and a Trans America cycle race to come in 2011. He plays it all down, but even Mike I think is slightly nervous about this one.

Ben Leach – The shortest person on the team (which is saying something for this vertically challenge group). Easily the most prepared for the event, Ben has changed his name to Sherpa and we thank him kindly for nominating himself to carry all the kit.

Sarah Reis – The Baby of the team. Having seen Sarah’s ‘Italian Job’ style driving in , the country roads will be well suited to our very own Colin McRae.

Karen Lewis – Knows some of the roads well we hope from her previous supporting roles for the Caledonian Challenge. However, we’re educating her in reading Welsh.

On a serious note, we are not under-estimating the challenge ahead and are all training hard, with a few long practice walks in the diary. We are of course also raising money for two very worthwhile charities and we will leave it for you to decide how you wish to donate. From previous experience, I can certainly vouch for the fact that sponsorship really does keep motivation high.

Starlight Children's Foundation – works to brighten the lives of seriously and terminally ill children by granting their wishes and providing hospital entertainment to help take their minds off the pain, fear and isolation of their illness. Info at http://www.starlight.org.uk/ . If you would prefer to give to Starlight please click here http://www.justgiving.com/3peaksmay2010starlight

Pancreatic Cancer UK – is the only national charity dedicated to fighting pancreatic cancer on all fronts: through information, support, awareness and research. It remains one of the most fatal with only a 3% 5 year survival rate (unchanged in 40 years). Info at http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/ or http://www.pcrf.org.uk/

So in summary, on 28^th May, whilst you are all preparing for a long weekend, possibly in the pub, think of us walking more than 25 miles, climbing around 10,000 feet, and covering some 450 miles between the mountains (as well as getting to the start of course).

Thanks in advance for all donations.