The team:

Serena Birrane, Tony Coates (our drivers!! our cooks!! our masseurs!!!)
Alison Coombe, Paul Flood, Tariq Moghal, Robert Murphy, Bob Scott

8.6.08 - Tony took the first drive down to Scafell for two and a half  hours before a bright & lively Serina took over for the remainder of the drive, arriving at 4am.  The pasta was re-heated and tea & coffee served before the routines of warm up balm, straps, supports and exercises, ready for leaving at 5:40.  Tony & his daughter stayed with the walkers for the first half mile or so.  It was a gentle climb at that point but they soon fell behind the seasoned walkers.  It wasn't long before the walkers were out of contact - the mountins get in the way for both VHF and mobiles.

The team were met part way down Scafell by the Chairman of the Cumbria Crimestoppers (who had pared on the other side of the mountain and walked across the top to be with us.

It was a long drive down to Snowdon and on arrival, walkers were soon out of the bus and underway.
9:15 and we've just heard from them.  they're on their way down the last part.  No reported injuries but some very tired-sounding voices!

7.6.08  The Big Day Arrives...  A lovely, sunny morning below the Ben.  Weather forcast is good but we could see showers after our scheduled start time of 4pm.

After stocking-up with supplies, making the sandwiches, and seeing-off our colleagues from the Leadership Academy (who were starting and hour and a half earlier) Alison & Tariq settled down for a rest whilst Paul had his thigh strapped to test-out Tony's Physiotherepy skills.
We'd all watched the helecopter lifting someone with a broken leg off the mountain and each making a prayer that it won't be any of our team.

We were met by an retired police officer in full national dress - complete with bagpipes.   Crimestoppers had arranged for Sandy Mackenzie (who's son is in the Met) to play the pipes as the team set off on their first ascent.
Serena & Tony refueled the minibus and returned to track the climers times.  It was about this point when they noiced the distinct smell of chicken casserole.  We had a leak and this was no vegatable!

Clean-up completed, our intrepid climbers were moving ahead of schedule.  The going was tough but at each leg, the team moved ahead.  Halfway along the zig-zags, they met the Academy team on their discent and after 2 hous 45 minutes, they were 40 minutes ahead.  Was Bob pushing the team too fast?  Those legs of his may be short but they sure do move quickly!
Ben Nevis summit reaced at 20:09 - 36 minutes ahead of plan.  By this time though, there was a fair gap between the front & the rear.Waiting for those bringing up the rear took quite a while and by the time the walkers returned, all that time gained had been used up.

6.6.08 The minibus is great from GM is great - packed to brimming point, we set off from Birmingham on-schedule and despite the 62mph speed limiter (minibus law from 1 Jan'08), we made good progress and it didn't stop Serena getting it up to 75 on a long down-hill run, or Tony keeping it at 62 round some of the more windy Scottish roads to arrive just on 10pm.
Bob was our DJ but Tariq provided entertainment too, 'singing' along to the specially-compiled i-pod tumes created by Rob.
Ali has been keeping the team on the straight & narrow (no booze) and all was well until we stopped off for fish & chips, where paul managed to find a whisky-store to fill his hip-flask.  and of course, on arrival in Fort William, the custom of 'just a couple' had to be followed.

Thanks very much to Leasedrive, GM and Toyota who have very kindly donated vehicles for the weekend - our essential transport for getting between the mountains. Thank you very much.

3.6.08 Our thanks go to one of our clients - Ofcom for their sponsorship in providing VHF radios to aid our safety, keeping walkers in contact with the support-crew.  We really appreciate it.

2.6.08 The DVD auction we have been running has now closed and has raised £352.90 so many thanks to all who put a bid in and congratulations to the winners.

2.6.08 And now the end is near and so we face……

The team, Ali, Bob, Paul, Rob and Tariq, along with Serena one of our drivers, plus a few other friends, completed its final training session this weekend on the Ridgeway in Buckinghamshire.  Starting in Wendover we climbed to the highest peak available (Coombe Hill, no relation to Alison!) spent 5 minutes taking team photos, see above, and then progressed past Chequers, not sure if Gordon was in, up Pulpitt Hill and down into Cadsden for a bite of lunch and a refreshing Ginger beer at the Plough.  85 minutes walking time down, we pressed on and walked through woods and fields up to Little Hampden (testing our navigation skills and the newly acquired GPS kit…must find those instructions!).  Up the hill onto the South Bucks Way, past the Rising Sun pub without having a drink or a chocolate bar break and up the woods into Hotley Bottom and on into Prestwood, Nr Gt Missenden.  
Total distance 14.8 km: Total time 180 mins (so averaging 12.16 mins per km), which according to Naismith’s method is good going.  And according to a few of us was too bloomin fast, so Bob had better slow down next weekend!!!
We rounded off the day with a barbeque chez Scott, rather too many puddings were consumed and Ali even allowed us to have a few glasses of beer/wine with our meal.  Calorific intake is now important though..

Oh and Serena has now decided she won’t be doing the final Snowdon climb with us….wuss! 
One last push for all of us raising sponsorship this week.

28.4.08 - The team have been issued with strict training instructions and compete each week to achieve the best results...  Lifts and escalators have been banned and fines are issued for offenders - all fines to Crimestoppers of course so let us know if you see any of the team not obeying the rules!  Next to go is alcohol which is meeting with some resistance.  Just 6 weeks to go!

3.4.08 - Tony Kelly, Capgemini's Everest summiter, gives the team and all the other challengers some of his top tips:

1.) Hydration is critical: 3-4% drop off in hydration = 10% drop in performance - You should be peeing lots!
2.) Use sticks
3.) Take high energy foods e.g. Gels and think of lacing your water with isotonic powder
4.) Train by hill walking as much as possible
5.) Change clothing between hikes
6.) Warm up and down thoroughly for each hike
7.) Start cool as you will get warm
8.) Set intermediate time targets on the hill
9.) Keep in visible contact with the team
10.) Leave a copy of your route with the drivers
11.) Have contingency plans in place
12.) Treat blisters as soon as they arise
13.) Everyone should have a rudimentary understanding of the route
14.) Have the navigator at the front
15.) Best not to use a walkman as you should be aware of surroundings at all times

31.3.08 - Update on the Snowdon practice climb from base camp Scott. 

Unfortunately due to adverse weather conditions we didn’t reach the summit of Snowdon this weekend.  We made it to about 2/3rds of the way up, bit disappointed really but the right decision not to continue…a lot of people turned round before us!  But the guy wearing just shorts was bonkers!!

The good news… all five of the climbing team are uninjured apart from a few aches in places we didn’t know we had muscles.  Bob's daughter Emily, 12 has an aching right knee and the other daughter Katherine 14 is very tired, she slept most of the last hour or so of our drive home.  Other climbers (Kevin Tomlinson, Paula Iddon, Bob's wife Karen and Lara Rawlings all OK apart from Lara’s boots which got wet, don’t think it is terminal damage!!!)  And Paul, Rob and Ali were so keen they went off for another climb on the Sunday.  Managed to get to the top of somewhere with great sea views and even some sunshine! 

17 (although rumour has it their numbers had dwindled due to some previous scoffing activity in the office last week) Crimestoppers gingerbread men travelled with us, but horizontal hail, rain, snow and 90mph winds prevented a photo opportunity with them on the mountain.  We did get a picture of them though in the pub and a good team photo on the Park and Ride bus (with a North Wales Crimestoppers logo in the background) and some hopefully good ones in the rather inclement weather up the mountain.

1.3.08 - We're training hard to lose weight... no, get ourselves fit before the 7th June when we embark on 24 hours of hell!  It's not going to be easy - Ben Nevis (1344m, 4406 ft), Scafell Pike (978m, 3210 ft) and Snowdon (1085m, 3560ft) all within the space of 24 hours snatching sleep in the van between each climb. 

Not sure that we will be challenging the army's record of 19 hours ish - we'll give it a try!

First on location training weekend planned for Snowdon at the end of March - may be looking for new team members after that! Until then we'll be on our exercise bikes, rowing machines, cross trainers and less altitude challenging yomps in the Chilterns.

We're all determined to do it and it's a great cause so please dig deep and sponsor us online.

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Many thanks for your support.