On 5 March I will be undertaking an event of epic proportions. Everest in the Alps is the ultimate winter sports endurance challenge. Together with four friends, as Team BlackLine, we have come together to support children living with incurable brain tumours.
Starting out of Verbier in Switzerland, we will be ski-touring uphill (using skins and ice crampons for grip) over four days, travelling a vertical distance equivalent to the height of Mount Everest (8,848 vertical metres or 5.5 miles). We expect each day to be at least 10 hours of ascent, burning 10,000 calories per day (the equivalent of running three back-to-back marathons each day). We are seeking to raise a mountain of cash for The Brain Tumour Charity.
But the challenge is nothing compared to what people with brain tumours have to face. My personal motivation comes from young Toby Ritchie, my friends' son who has an under-researched paediatric tumour. The more money we raise, the greater chances he and many others like him have of survival.
Brain tumours are the single biggest cancer killer of children; globally there are 26,000 kids with low-grade (slower-growing) paediatric brain tumours. There is no cure. Yet, just an estimated 2% of cancer research funding goes into brain tumours and very little is known about the causes, while treatment remains inadequate.
We are looking to change this with our challenge. Sponsorship money raised by us taking part in Everest in the Alps will be specifically used to finance research and new treatments for this type of brain tumour. Through our efforts in the mountains and with kind donations from friends, we are supporting The Brain Tumour Charity in their quest to raise funds for The Everest Centre. This £5 million landmark Centre is the largest single investment in research ever made by The Brain Tumour Charity and its amazing work is supported with money raised by Everest in the Alps. The Centre undertakes ground-breaking research into paediatric low grade tumours.
My team is a group of fathers all from my village in Hampshire, and all with healthy kids. We appreciate how lucky we are but also how delicate life is and how cruel it can be to others who have been less fortunate. Although it's taken me six months of training to get in the right physical shape in order to take on the climb, I’m expecting once we’re in the mountains that it will actually be just as much of a mental challenge to get the right meterage done in order to complete the climb by the end of the fourth day. We will be spending the nights in mountain huts at altitude and, although the scenery will undoubtedly be beautiful, the physicality involved in ski-touring together with the lack of oxygen and the rapidly changing weather patterns of the mountains are sure to take their toll.
It will take a massive dose of teamwork to get this done. This will be our personal Everest. But we're determined to do our best to help Toby, and other children affected by brain tumours.
Should you feel able to sponsor me or simply to get involved spreading the word here are the links: Our website, Twitter, Instagram, The team’s Just Giving.
Thank you