Staff at Salford-based JMC IT hiked under treacherous conditions throughout the night to complete an epic 38-mile, 33 peak, 24-hour challenge, raising more than £15,000 for local charity MedEquip4Kids.
Volunteers for Team JMC, the company’s social, sporting and charitable arm, undertook months of tough training to prepare for the trek, which involved scaling over 17,000 ft of some of the Lake District’s most renowned peaks, facing hail storms and gale-force winds as they pushed on through the night to the finish.
JMC’s senior technical architect, Peter Wilson, mapped out the entire route and undertook practice walks of every section, guiding the team to the finish line after 21.5 hours; beating the initial 24-hour target.
Says Wilson: “The experience has been completely life-changing for all of us. The conditions were tougher than we could have imagined, with hail storms, flooding and gale-force winds to contend with along the way. At one point we saw rescue helicopters on the mountains, later learning other walkers had been taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia.
“Luckily, we had a fantastic support crew of colleagues, family and friends, who were there for the entire weekend with food, caffeine, storm shelters and a change of clothes as we made our way across the epic 33 peaks. Knowing how much money we were raising for such a fantastic cause really spurred us all on to complete the challenge and we’re thrilled to have smashed our £8,000 target,” he adds.
Ghazala Baig, chief executive at Prestwich-based MedEquip4Kids, comments: “On behalf of MedEquip4Kids I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to contribute to this amazing event. To the brave team of trekkers, all their friends, families, co-workers and sponsors. We really do appreciate all you are doing to raise money for MedEquip4Kids.”
JMC is working with the charity to decide how the funds can be best spent supporting worthy causes at hospitals across the North West, including the purchase of life-saving equipment such as defibrillators.
Andrew Burgess, managing director at JMC, says: “We’re so grateful to all our supporters, and especially our principal sponsors Ruia Group, MKR, Beechfield Brands, CDL, UK Healthcare and Metronet UK, who all gave extremely generous donations to spur us on. We also couldn’t have done it without our wonderful support crew, many of whom we’re taking back to the Lakes to experience some of the peaks for themselves.”
