Three Peaks Challenge 2005

I suppose the event started on Wednesday 22nd June at Bristol fire station, ahead of us a ten hour drive to Fort William in Scotland, us being Nick, Steve, Bob, Mike, Dermot and myself all members of Avon Fire Service. The challenge we had undertaken was to climb, in under 24 hours, the three highest peaks in Britain, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scaffell Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in North Wales. This was part of the UK Fire Service Challenge in which 130 teams took part over 2 weeks.

The journey up to Fort William was uneventful not much to see just a lot of motorway and fields. After a few stops at service stations we arrived at our destination, a quick shower, change of clothes and we were ready to go and get something to eat and drink (no beer for me). If any of you go to Scotland I recommend trying Haggis, don’t ask what’s in it just enjoy it. The night passed and before long it was time to hit the sack as it would be a very long day on Thursday.

A good night’s sleep was had by all. As we didn’t have to start the race until 20:00 that evening we had all day to chill out and start to carbo load. As the time arrived the nerves were starting to show, several trips to the toilet and not a lot of conversation between us. It was only a short drive to Nevis so we did all our kit checks and planned our tactics during the day.

As we were the holders of the record (2004 – 15hrs 30min) we were last to start, the slower teams going first and so on. 20:00 arrived and we were off, a fast pace to start as it was quite flat then gradually it got steeper. If anyone has climbed any of the Three Peaks you will know that the pathways are steep, narrow and consist of big rocks and loose shingle which makes the climbing hard going. We reached the summit ahead of our schedule (times at the end) 4 mins up on last year. We gave our tally to the marshal then started the descent. Running down a mountain is not the easiest thing to do so I had to watch my footing all the time. Everything was going smoothly until about a mile from the finish when it happened, first the left ankle then the right, I slipped and twisted both I carried on then the big one, the right ankle was quite weak and I went over big time smacking my head on the rocks and giving myself several cuts to my arms and legs, I thought that was it my race over. Steve who was running behind me just said ‘are you alright’? Picked me up and we carried on running to the finish. After all the time we made going up we were slower descending than last year but our overall time was the same, a good start. Our total time up and down was 2hr 01min.

A quick change of clothes, some drinks and a bit of food and we were off to Scaffell Pike. In between the mountains I tried to grab as much sleep as possible, as well as refueling my muscles with various types of carbos and proteins. We had our sleeping bags to make it comfortable as possible. My sleeping area was the back seat of the mini bus with the other three climbers sharing the other seats and floor, the two designated drivers sat in the front navigating to the next mountain.

Whilst we were traveling between Ben Nevis and Scaffell Pike at about 22:45 we were witness to a fatal road accident between a car and a pedestrian, being in the emergency service we did all we could to assist the parties involved, but sadly the person was killed instantly so all we could do was protect the scene and comfort the relatives of the victim. We had to make the decision whether to continue or abandon the challenge. We decided to continue with it, and after giving statements to the police we were allowed to continue.

We arrived at Scaffell Pike eventually and it was literally out of the van and up the mountain. My ankles had heavy strapping on them for damage limitation, my right one was in a bad way but it was all I could do and I wasn’t going to give up. I my view this was the hardest mountain to climb there was hardly any running you just had to take a combination of long and short steps depending on the terrain. To the top then straight back down no time to look at the view but what I did see was spectacular. I really had to concentrate descending so I didn’t turn my ankle again. It did slow us down a bit but in the end we made it up and down in 1hr 24min we were on for a new record.

It was the same routine for traveling, food, drink and sleep. In no time at all we were ascending Snowdon. We didn’t have to descend Snowdon the finish was at the top, which alone gave us incentive to push harder. By now all my leg muscles were aching it was getting harder by the minute, all the teams were suffering. If we were to break the record we would have to reach the summit in less than 55min. As the pain increased the time ticked away we were nearly there only 4 hundred yards to go and the ground was leveling out, one last sprint or fast jog, that’s all we could manage and we were there. We had done it breaking the record by three minutes. Congratulations, handshakes and a couple of obscenities about how hard that was and never again. The only downside was we had to walk 5 miles back down to the mini bus, but we just broke the national record so we didn’t care.

A good presentation night followed, with congratulations from other teams and the organizers. Most of my night was spent sat down with my swollen ankles up in the air and a pint of beer in my hand. The highlight of the night was a standing ovation by all the other teams, it hit a nerve but I felt proud to have achieved this feat. It’s without doubt the hardest event I have ever competed in; it pushes you to the limit and beyond. But don’t be put off by that as anyone can do the Three Peaks Challenge you don’t have to race it like some mad people do.

Our times:

• Ben Nevis 2h 01min
• Scaffell Pike 1h 34min
• Snowdon 52min

Our thoughts go out to the family of the road traffic accident it was a sad and unnecessary death. Brian Penny