With his past experience he was able to give an enormous amount of help and valuable advice on training and training climbs. He is an ex-marshal who participated in the challenge this year. They have accolades of their own to give.

Just before I pack away my laptop, the team have a request.

No wonder some couldn't keep their eyes open at the end of the Gala Dinner. Out of a devastating rugby loss, and a tongue-in-cheek consolation prize, the Wooden Spoon charity was born!' Over £8500 was raised and donated to a local special needs school, Park School, in the form of a new minibus. The plan was scribbled onto a napkin, and put into action a few months later at Farnham Golf Club in Surrey. The victorious Irish fans presented the group of miserable friends with a wooden spoon in sympathy, and after a Guinness (or four), they came up with the idea of holding a charity golf match to see who deserved the honour of keeping the spoon. ' In 1983, a group of English rugby fans were drowning their sorrows in a Dublin bar after England's disastrous performance in the Five Nations Championship. This British and Irish rugby charity dedicate their charitable work to helping mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged young people in the British Isles.I quote an excerpt from the charity's home page So what has all this fuss been about? Children of course! Proceeds are going to Wooden Spoon, the children's charity of Rugby. Your donations have made it all worthwhile. On behalf of the team, I say a HUGE Thank You to all who have sponsored them. You have to have an enormous amount of integrity, determination, dedication, and teamwork to train to that level of fitness and then conquer all that nature throws at you (and still smile at the end of it)īesides the training, the team had to beg, cap in hand, for sponsorship. The teams only have themselves for support no thronging spectators and no huge news coverage, just other team members and the marshals on the lonely, lofty peaks. The event is intensely personal and quite solitary.

Not much time for rest, I can assure you. Hill climbing, cycling, running, combat training and the gym are among the activities that they participated in (and remember, by his own admission, John is not really an outdoor person) All this so that they can climb Ben Nevis, Helvellyn, Mt Snowdon and Carrantuohill, a total of 14000 ft (and don't forget the 1000 miles drive between the mountains) all in just 48 hours. Sometimes together but mostly separately. Mark, John, Julia and Tanya came together to conquer four of Britain and Ireland's highest mountains, in one of UKs most exhausting, exhilarating and rewarding charity challenges.įor the past 12 months the four have been training. I want to sum up the achievements of these four amazing people.

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