Sixteen shipmates from the nation’s flagship battled foul weather conditions to scale the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales inside 24 hours.
Despite snow, poor visibility, rain and darkness, the team from HMS Queen Elizabeth conquered a snowy Ben Nevis in Scotland (1,345m), moved on to scale Scafell Pike (978m) in the Lake District and finally conquered Mount Snowdon (1,085m) in Wales.
The time on the stopwatch: 16 hours. And more than £2,600 of their £3,000 target for Help for Heroes raised.
“It was tough going in places, but we’re trained to overcome such challenges and we achieved it with only a few bruises and blisters to show for it,” said organiser, 27-year-old Naval Airman Kieran James.
“It was, clearly, a good physical test for us, something that would live long in our memories, and, logistically, over and done with quickly.
“We’re hoping people will support us via justgiving.com/fundraising/qehandlers3peaks and pledge a few pounds to help us help veterans who have been left with something significantly more substantial than bruises or blisters as a result of serving their country.”
The team comprised (deep breath): organiser James, from Aylesbury; his fellow NAs Lewis Nelson, 24, from Southend; Rhys Gwilliam, 25, from Llanelli; Sean Hainey, 27, from Salford; Peter Savage, 33, from Barrow-in-Furness, Lucas Jones, 30, and Kim Hartley, 25, both from Burnley; Leading Airmen Pete Medhurst, 31, from Crewkerne, James Milner, 27, from Portsmouth, and Joe Wrigley, 24, from Great Yarmouth; Leading Aircraft Controller Mitchell Farr, 24, from Thorndon; Petty Officers Liam Forgeron, 33, from Portsmouth, Wayne Bowring, 40, from Weymouth, and Brian Johnston, 34, from Bolton; Chief Petty Officer Ray Richardson, 36, from Newcastle; and Warrant Officer Scott Iszard, 46, from Torquay.
