09/07

We did it!!! The three peaks in 22 hours and 20 minutes - one hour and 40 minutes within the target of 24. A fantastic achievement - all down to our teamwork and careful preparation and planning. But it wasn't easy...

We started Ben Nevis half an hour earlier than sheduled as rain was forcasted for later. So after an anxious wait at the restaurant and some photos at the starting point we made our way up slopes to "The Ben" at exactly 4.30pm. Sure enough the rain started about halfway up, and the climb seemd to go on and on (this was the only one of the 3 we hadn't trained on). Having reached the summit we didn't hang around in the 50mph gusts of wind - just a quick photo and on our way down - all the team back in the minibus at 8.50pm - we were ahead of schedule, but all that could be undone if we lost time on the journey or the other climbs. Fortunatley we had Bedman and Wing Commander at the wheel and navigating, (now AKA The Stig and The Hamster! ;-)) so we made it to Scafell Pike for an impressive 2.30am on Sunday morning, and started the climb in the dark at 2.40. One highpoint had to be watching the sunrise from the top of Scafell Pike as we looked down on the top of the clouds - stunning! We were all safely down for 6am so after a quick bacon butty (beautifully cooked for us by Stig and Hamster) it was back on the road for the final leg to Mount Snowdon. Again brilliant driving/navigating got us there in good time so we were able to start at 11am, giving us five and a half hours to go up and down Snowdon. The previous week's practice up Snowdon took us 3 hours up and down, so we were feeling confident... Obviously the 3 hour practice walk wasn't after a sleepless night on a minibus and climbing the two highest peaks in Scotland and England ! However we made it in 3 hours 50. Cue high fives and much congratulations! And then we got word that the Just Giving page had also got over the line, exeeding our original target of £2000. Brilliant!

Thanks so much to everyone who has dontated - the page will run for a few more weeks yet, so there is still time to donate to our great causes if you haven't done already.

Thank you

Team Gorsey

28/06

Ok, its getting close now... there have been many incidents on the hills of the practice walks and much planning continues as the big day looms. I think we've now agreed to no cooking while driving, no low-carb diets and no wearing any of your wife's clothes.

Apparently its about 26 miles distance and about 3000 metres climbed (and decended) in the challenge... but Jon told me it's too late to back out now :)

We would all like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us through sponsorship or any other form - I'm sure we will be spurred on by this!

If you haven't donated yet please give whatever you can.

Thanks for reading

Team Gorsey

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Team Gorsey Dads - a motley crew of dads with kids at Gorsey Bank Primary School whipped into shape by Acting Team Leader (ATL) Read preparing to mount the National Three Peaks challenge on Saturday and Sunday 7th/8th July 2012. Team Gorsey are trying to raise £2000 to be shared equally between Gorsey Bank PTA and The Seashell Trust - who do brilliant work with children and adults with severe and complex learning difficulties combined with significant communication difficulties www.seashelltrust.org.uk/about-us/index.htm

The Challenge: reach the summit of each of the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours.

The challenge involves not only a huge physical undertaking (luckily these guys all view themselves as heroes), but also the trauma of sleep-deprivation and sharing a minibus with 8 other blokes, and the ordeal of the associated aromas and noises…  Not an easy task and one that also relies heavily on the non-walking team members (Wing Commander & Bedman) who will be responsible for driving our chariot (kindly provided by Swissport), navigation, refuelling and morale boosting.

The peaks are Ben Nevis (1344m) Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1085m). Our challenge starts at 5pm on the Saturday at Glen Nevis, ending (hopefully!) by 5pm on the Sunday at Pen-y-Pass car park in Snowdonia.

Team Gorsey who are tipped to be the best dressed on the mountain (courtesy of J Hempstocks Ltd) and best fed (courtesy of the Cheshire Smokehouse) will be competing with two other schools from Wilmslow (Lindow and Ashdene) that are also doing the challenge on this date.

Training and preparation is well underway, including walks on Kinder Scout, up to the peak of Mount Snowdon, as well as a number of rigourous training expeditions to local hostelries… for planning purposes of course…

Thanks for visiting - Please dig deep and give what you can!