Lee and friends battle the elements for the RNOH Charity

Posted by Sam Bowie on 24 October 2012

Luke Rendell, Lee Collas, Dave Smith, Arran Neathey, and Josh Cheasley (left to right in the photo above) have raised a fantastic £1224.50 for the RNOH Charity by doing the Three Peaks Challenge. Here, Lee describes their experience:

“My friends and I undertook the Three Peaks challenge in memory of our friend Ben, who passed away in a car crash over the Easter holiday in 2011. We had been looking for something to do in his memory since then. When we found out about the Three Peaks Challenge it seemed like something we would all be capable of pushing ourselves into completing. We then decided we could try and raise money for a charity and asked Ben's parents and sister if they had one they would prefer. Ben's little sister Hannah is helped by the RNOH, receiving regular treatment, and this was the charity the family selected.

I myself play quite a lot of sport and David and Luke have previously climbed Kilimanjaro in 2010; Josh is a scout leader, and Arran is fairly fit too, so we went into the challenge without having done a lot of training. This is something I would recommend that any other people looking to complete the Three Peaks Challenge for the RNOH do not copy! The challenge is a lot tougher, both physically and mentally, than any of us believed it could be.

One other piece of advice I would offer is to get your timings correct - we started Ben Nevis when there had already been 4 hours of daylight and ended up climbing the whole of Scafell Pike, the 2nd mountain, entirely in the dark. I would definitely recommend the experience to others, the feeling of achievement standing on top the final mountain is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life."