As well as being a very accomplished skier, mountaineer, marathon runner and all-round sportsman, Toby was extremely kind and generous, an exceptionally gifted linguist, and probably the funniest person either of us has ever met. He was a very good friend, and will be missed more than can be adequately expressed here. He placed great importance on this fundraising effort, and (to the extent that he had not already had a chance to thank you personally) he would have wanted us to extend to you his sincere gratitude for your generosity.
We have left on this page the original words written by Toby, and the photos and captions included by him.
Russell Berry and Andrew Gerber
_____________________________________________________________
Many thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. You can make a donation by credit card or paypal (in order to avoid credit card transaction fees for those outside the UK). Once you have donated, your money will be sent directly to Breakthrough - nothing will be withheld to pay for any of our expenses. Justgiving will also ensure that Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. Alternatively you can send a cheque directly to:
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Weston House
246 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7EX
You can find out more about the charity, and the race, below. We would be extremely grateful for your donations!
Toby Cox
Russell Berry
Andrew Gerber
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Breakthrough (
http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/) is a pioneering charity dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and ultimate eradication of breast cancer, committed to fighting breast cancer by:
·
initiating and supporting research which aims ultimately to eradicate breast cancer by discovering the cause of the disease, finding methods of prevention and developing new treatments;
·
creating a focus for breast cancer research through the Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre, housed in the Mary-Jean Mitchell Green building at the Institute of Cancer Research; the first of its kind in the UK;
·
encouraging the rapid communication of research findings for the practical benefit of people with breast cancer;
·
fostering partnerships between organisations concerned with breast cancer;
·
promoting breast cancer education and awareness among the public, policy makers, health professionals and the media; and
·
campaigning for policies that support breast cancer research and a pioneering approach to breast cancer services in the UK.
We have had personal experience of the effects of breast cancer (through friends and family) and feel strongly that this is a worthwhile cause.
The Patrouille des Glaciers Race (PDG)
The PDG is a biennial ski mountaineering race from Zermatt to Verbier in Switzerland, run by the Swiss army, and originating from the Swiss patrol of the Italian border during the Second World War. The race covers a distance of about 55km, crossing over some of the highest passes in the Alps. There is a cumulative vertical ascent of 4,000m and a total descent of about the same distance. To travel uphill, the members of each three-man patrol must affix skins to the underside of their skis; to go downhill, they remove the skins and attempt to enjoy the 3am powder whilst attached to their fellow patrol members by a rope!
We have all completed the PDG before (yet at least two of us have sworn never to enter it again…) and this year our start time is 10pm on Friday 23
rd April. We'll then be racing through the night, hoping to arrive in Verbier some time before sunset the following day. In 2008, 86% of the field were Swiss and 42% were from the military (and about 0.5% were jokers like us), yet 35% of patrols were disqualified due to not reaching certain checkpoints within the required time-limits.
This year, whilst we are all hoping to complete the course for a second time, and - dare we say it - even improve on our previous race times (most mountain guides laugh when we tell them our previous times, so this is definitely possible) we also want to raise money for an extremely worthwhile cause - the breast cancer charity, Breakthrough.
Our training schedule has now been underway for some weeks – it will include the Paris marathon two weeks before the event and then a 5 day ski tour, sleeping in mountain refuges and getting some valuable acclimatisation before the race.
More info can be found on
http://www.pdg.ch/ - the site also enables you to track our progress out in the mountains.
