Deva Athletic FC has recently completed the famous three peaks challenge, raising £450 for the local Franklin’s Star charity.
The gruelling event requires the participants to scale the three highest mountains in three countries in less than 24 hours – Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales.
What makes the challenge difficult, however, isn’t just the amount of walking involved, but the time limit and the distance involved – more than 1,000 miles of driving – coupled with this year’s horrendous weather conditions.
Club chairman Chris Timms said: “We were doing this in memory of a close friend, Danny Jones, who passed away in March this year from a brain tumour. We wanted to raise awareness and support for brain tumour research through the charity Tara, Danny’s wife, set up.”
In horrendous weather conditions, 11 members of the club braved the elements and tackled the challenge and completed it in just over 23 hours.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, as the weather on two of the three mountains slowed them down making it take longer to come down the mountains than to go up.
There were weather warnings on Ben Nevis and Snowdon with high winds, heavy rain and even hail at one point.
The weather was indeed treacherous with other groups of climbers turning back at various points on Snowdon.
Group leader Shaun Williams explains: “The route we took was practically a waterfall and the wind and rain in the pitch black made the last stage more dangerous than we had imagined.”
The club plans to take on another event for charity next year, with hopefully some nicer weather!
