"Climbing Everest is more dangerous but RAAM is much harder" - Austrian adventurer Wolfgang Fasching who climbed Mount Everest in 2001 and won the solo category of the Race Across America three times. In June 2011, a team of 4 adventurous souls from Norton Rose Group will be competing in the toughest cycle race in the world, the Race Across America. The route totals over 3,000 miles and begins in Oceanside, California before heading over the Rockies, weaving across the American plains and arriving in Annapolis, Maryland. We will compete against teams from around the world to cross 12 States (including 2 mountain ranges), negotiate 170,000ft of climbing (that's about 6 times the height of Mount Everest!) and will face every extreme of weather; this is the ultimate cycling challenge. Team Norton Rose aim to raise £50,000 for Barretstown. Barretstown is a specially-designed camp that provides therapeutic recreation programmes for children with serious illnesses - primarily cancer and serious blood diseases - and their families and is one of the charities currently supported by Norton Rose Group staff. You can find out more information about the fantastic work carried out by the Barretstown team by visiting their website (http://www.barretstown.org/) where you can also see feedback from the kids themselves. It would be fantastic if you can contribute what you can. Any donation is hugely appreciated. 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 - every penny that Team Norton Rose raises will be going direct to Barretstown. Thank you for your support. PS You can keep up to date with our progress by visiting our website at http://www.nortonrose.com/raceacrossamerica.