03 July 09 Update: Wow, so close. If you count the tax we are about £250 short of our target. Having had some issues with the site, it now seems to be much more stable. It would be great if you could help to get us to £5k... please?

22June 09 Update: Firstly, apologies - Just Giving have recently upgraded their site and I've been unable to access the pages to update you. If you've struggled to get access to donate, that's also probably the reason. I am assured that this should have settled down now. Please try again.

Well, the event has been done - day 1 was a bit unorthodox, as we ended up getting lost after peak 2. Mileage and climbs were equivalent but we lost Steve and TJ after about 7 hours and Micky and Chris (who took Micky down off the mountains) after about 10 hours walking. Even so, Jason and I achieved Scafell despite being incredibly late and we just managed to get down before losing the daylight. The rest, as they say, is history.

Day 2 was textbook stuff - timings were within a few minutes all day and we ended 5 minutes early. TJ, Micky and Steve were suffering too much to go on. Chris, Jason and I finished the day. Almost 29 miles walked in total and over 11,000 feet climbed and descended. That's 37% of the height of Everest!

A huge thankyou to everyone who has supported us - it really is appreciated. If you haven't managed to donate yet, please try again. Even if you have, feel free to have another go with the new website. Fundraising closes soon, so please please help us reach our target. Thanks again.

Duncan

15 June 09 Update: Last week training was intense and gruelling, and we've all been putting in the hours to get to peak physical fitness.

Chris Scoggins has been commenting on his own geographical challenges - he says he is "restricted to a choice of only 2 hills … training consists largely of going up and down the same hill ten times in a row each evening". I'm sure we'll have more than enough choice of hills come Friday!

With less than 100 hours to go before the big event, sponsorship stands at a magnificent £1,679 - a big thank you to all our individual and corporate sponsors for making the difference.

Please have a look at some of the work that the Railway Children does, give generously and ask your friends, family or colleagues to donate too. It really is a worthy cause: www.railwaychildren.org.uk.

We'll send updates to our sponsors (who wish to be updated) throughout the event, but you must sponsor us to receive them! It will be worth it!

8 June 09 Update: The race to the target is on - with only 10 days to go before we set off. We stand at £565 - thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous so far and an especially big thank you to Michael. We've raised £460 today - making £5k still achievable if we can keep this pace up. Training is also going to be tough this week - hard to find both the time and energy - but it is the last week of really intensive training. Dig deep and we'll reach Sunday evening. Thanks again! Remember to bookmark the page, come back to see how we're doing and tell your friends and colleagues.

The Challenge:   7 challengers from "Team NRE 2009" will attempt to climb 24 mountains all over 2,400 feet in just 24 hours, walking 33 miles on the way !

This is an extremely tough challenge and the 2007 performance will be hard to beat, but everyone has been training for it for several months and we will be ready to roll on the 19th-20th June.

Railway Children is an amazing organisation.   Some of us have had the priviledge of meeting the kids they help, across India, the UK and elsewhere in the world.   In each case, the situation is absolutely awful - no one should live like that.   Railway Children is working with these kids to help them get their lives back.   >> YOU CAN HELP <<.   Every penny of sponsorship you give through this site will go to the Railway Children to help those who can't help themselves, through no fault of their own.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: The Railway Children will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Bookmark this page, send it to your friends and come back for updates on how we're getting on.

Many thanks for your support.

Team NRE (2009):

Micky Ball, Steve Fountain, Pauline Goode (Support), Jean-Leandre Guede, Duncan Henry, Diane Latham (Support), Tim Martin (Support), Alastair Page (Support), Chris Scoggins, Tejpal Singh, Jason Webb