For those of you who have not heard of The National Three Peaks Challenge, it involves climbing the highest mountains of Scotland, England, and Wales, often within 24 hours. These mountains are Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon.
The challenge includes around 24 miles of hill walking, separated by two long drives. Each mountain includes a round trip of between seven to ten miles.
“Walking up a mountain is not a challenge. Walking up three of them is!” says Perception Live MD, Patrick O’Donnell.
“A good friend of mine recently lost his father and was talking to me about walking up Scafell Pike in memory of his Dad. Just a few weeks prior I watched a programme on 100 best UK hikes which had sparked my interest, so this conversation motivated me to get on and do it. Of course, I couldn’t just do one mountain…”
Supporting Conservation
Coupled with the personal desire to do the challenge, Patrick has long held a deep-rooted love of nature and wildlife, having grown up in Africa and spending most days outdoors, up mountains, and trekking through forests. Our close working relationship with ZSL London Zoo has also given us as a company the privilege of seeing first-hand the great work that they do for conservation. Patrick committed to doing the challenge to raise funds for this amazing conservation charity, with money going towards reducing Elephant and Rhino poaching in Africa, the global tiger decline and further education about industrial farming, and the end of the devastation that is deforestation.
Team Work
After making the decision to do this, Patrick talked to a few people. Surprisingly, not everyone was enthusiastic about 24 hours of grueling mountain slog, but one person was up for joining the challenge. Our friend and colleague, Shane Thurston, was keen to join Patrick on the Three Peaks Challenge. With a few things in common with each other such as originally hailing from South Africa, keen on outdoor exploits, and having their birthdays near to the challenge date, it seems they are the perfect duo to take on the tallest mountains within each representative country: Scafell Pike is the tallest in England; Snowdon, the tallest in Wales and Ben Nevis the tallest in Scotland
“From my perspective, I’m looking forward to doing an intense physical challenge,” says Shane. “From what I’ve read, this is one of the toughest challenges of its type.
To do this for the benefit of conservation is what will keep me going during the climb. Growing up in the African bush make this a cause very close to my heart. We are also going to take a mascot that will be revealed in due course”
The Three Peaks Challenge for our two adventuring heroes takes place on 24th August 2019.