Seven leading figures from the region’s property sector are in the midst of a gruelling training regime to ensure they can scale the world’s highest free-standing mountain this September.

The team plan to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro – all 5895 metres (19,341 feet) of it – via the testing Lemosho route in just six days of trekking.  The key to achieving their goal, says team leader Graham Flynn of Box Clever Consulting, isn’t just fitness. “Altitude sickness can kick in from as little as 2500 metres, so whilst we are all pushing to get fit, we have got everything crossed that the whole team can deal with the altitude so we can reach the summit as a team.” 

I will be joined by Graham Flynn of Box Clever, Colin Forshaw of Bruntwood, Kevin Horton of K2 Architects, David Gilbert of BAE Systems, Chris Shaw of Urban Splash and Justin Myall also of Box Clever. Our collective aim is to raise £50,000 to help Claire House Children’s Hospice continue reaching out to more children and families across Liverpool.

Beth Pochin of Claire House said: “We have an amazing network of supporters who get up to all sorts of things to help us provide our life-changing care but getting to the top of such a testing peak is unusual. In the last six years, there has been an 84% increase in the number of children we support and we cannot continue to reach more children without the support of the community. We are incredibly grateful to the team tackling Kilimanjaro whose support will help us to on our journey to reach every child who needs us.”

Graham Flynn one of the trekkers says that there is still room on the trek for others to join, irrespective of the sector they work in. “You need reasonable fitness, good knees and a decent set of lungs.  It’s fair to say this isn’t for people on 40 a day,” he quipped.

The trek is being organised by mountain guide Keith White of 360 Expeditions (360 expeditions.com) with the team leaving on 26^th September and hopefully summiting the peak on 3^rd or 4^th of October 2019.