Airport firefighters tackle Three Peaks Challenge

A team of six Airport firefighters are about to take on the Three Peaks Challenge. They are raising money for Soccer Stars Juniors, which offers free football sessions for young people with learning or physical disabilities.

Ross Aley, Curtis Monks, Jack Langford, Mark Ray, Neil Harvey and Marcin Mietelka will be assisted by recently retired colleague, Alan Bertram, who’ll drive and act as their support crew.

Their mission is to hike the three highest mountain peaks in the UK within 24 hours, starting on Wednesday 11 September. To achieve this, it’ll mean sleep deprivation and a long drive, in addition to the tough, four-hour hikes and dealing with potentially unpredictable weather.

Marcin said: “We’re doing quite a bit of training together and there’s some healthy competition between us, but I’m sure we’ll pull together as a team and help each other when it gets tough. We’re already looking forward to celebrating together when we reach the top of each peak! We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the weather stays fine and we can stick to our schedule.”

They’re already close to their fundraising target of £1,500, which will go towards supporting Soccer Stars Juniors, a project that was created and run by Mark Ray.  Mark said: “It was fantastic that the team wanted to nominate Soccer Stars Juniors. I run the programme in my spare time, offering free football sessions for young people between the ages of seven and 14 who have learning or physical disabilities, which means it’s not so easy for them to take part in mainstream football clubs.

“It’s a laid-back club where they players get together, have fun on the pitch and learn a few footballing skills. We’re really grateful to Ports for making a significant contribution to our fundraising.”

The schedule
The challenge will start in the Welsh mountains on the morning of Wednesday 11 September, with a 1,085 metre climb to the top of Snowdon (aka Yr Wyddfa). Once they’ve completed Snowdon, they’ll travel north on the same day to the Lake District where they’ll climb Scafell Pike, their second mountain of the day, which is 978 metres high.

After Scafell, they’ll travel through the night, for around six hours, to get to Fort William in Scotland, ready to climb Ben Nevis, which at 1,344 metres high, is the tallest of the three.

The team is due to return to Jersey on Thursday 12 September, after completing the final peak that day.