‘Feel Good’ Fundraising - There’s Always Gonna be Another Mountain
Today, I’m excited to take us over the hill and far away…to Yorkshire (okay not that far), to join Tom Chettle. Tom and his colleagues from Buckinghamshire Council took on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge to raise some funds for Talkback UK. Tom undertook the challenge in memory of Andy Leach; a great friend and colleague, and a passionate advocate for people with learning difficulties who tragically passed away in 2021. You can read the original article here.
I was itching to follow-up with Tom to get his thoughts and experiences on a challenge of 24 miles of walking and over 1,700 metres of ascension!
I read in the Charity Today article about your challenge that one of your favourite things was the social aspect, the opportunity to meet and speak with people you wouldn’t otherwise. Were there any moments of connection that stood out to you?
“The previous year I had completed the national 3 peaks with friends but didn’t fundraise, I knew that any future walking challenge would bring a group of people together with a strong sense of a single goal. The build-up for our walk was fun, I was the tie between friends, colleagues and family and we did a decent amount of practice walking together. This meant that a strong bond between the team was already starting as individuals trained for a shared purpose, 1. To remember Andy who had sadly died 2. To raise a decent amount of money for charity 3. To climb 3 big mountains in a day!! The strongest moment of connection was likely to be the second peak, some of the team were really feeling the physical effects of the walk and together we got up that second mountain.
Our group leader was Chris form Getoutdoors. Chris is great at his job and is a great motivator! Just before the last Mountain I was feeling tired and a bit sick – Chris was able to get me up on my feet, get some sugar in me and inspire me to carry on.
When you’re walking for over 12 hours you talk about all sorts. It was great sharing some of our past experiences, when I was 20 I drove from London to Mongolia – it was great sharing this with some colleagues. There was also a lot of humour about ‘wild wees’ flying around on the day.”
I imagine each of the mountains has its own personality, how do you feel about each of them?
“Pen-y-ghent: Spikey
Whernside: the gentle giant
Ingleborough: Beautiful
I reached the top of Ingleborough late in the evening just in time for a sun set, the sense of achievement was immense.
It was a long walk to Whernside and once you got there it was a slow gradual climb, for this reason it was definitely my least favourite, on the flip side though this was the best Mountain for team spirit – we all pulled in together!
If I had to rate the mountains in order of difficulty:
Ingleborough: it was on the home straight and very steep
Pen-y-ghent: some rock climbing and very steep, but with fresh legs and first thing in the morning it was good fun.
Whernside: a gentle climb but wow, the descent was very steep!!”
I read that you hadn’t done any hiking or mountaineering before your last two three peaks challenges. Have you caught the bug and can we expect to see more from you in the future?
“Yes, I definitely do have the bug, I have not yet chosen the next climb though!! In terms of other fundraising challenges, I’ve no big plans yet, I am doing some half marathon running at the moment and have my eye on a future marathon.”
Any final thoughts?
“The walk was a great experience and completed in memory of my friend and colleague Andy Leach. Throughout the day Andy was with us all and that really spurred on the team 😊.”
What a wonderful achievement Tom, well done! Check out Tom’s JustGiving page to donate or read his recent blog!
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