SR Timber team conquers Ben Nevis – along with SAS TV star

0
Sep 23, 2019/ Off Comments / in British Heart Foundation, Charity, General News / by
SR Timber team conquers Ben Nevis – along with SAS TV star

A team from SR Timber has scaled the UK’s tallest mountain as part of our fundraising activities for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) – and the achievement was made extra special when they saw one of the stars of TV show ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins’ along the way.

Trading Managers Mark Parkes and Richard Stone, along with Mark’s brother Jack, took on the challenge of getting up and down Ben Nevis – which stands at 1,345 metres above sea level – in a day. They did it comfortably, or so they thought: for a couple of days afterwards, they were all feeling the effects.

The trio set off from the Glen Nevis Visitor Centre at 8:40am, following the Mountain Track route, part of which zigzags up the side of the mountain. Although it was glorious sunshine with no mist, the SR Timber team couldn’t see the peak as they headed off.

They reached the summit just before midday and spent nearly an hour taking in the views, having something to eat and taking photos – and Richard enjoyed the fact that he couldn’t get a mobile phone signal!

Richard – who previously climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for the BHF – said: “It was an absolutely beautiful day – this was somewhat unexpected because taking on challenges like this, you have to plan for bad weather, as the conditions are so changeable.

“On the day, we were really lucky and made it to the top in very good time. As well as taking in the scenery and enjoying the sense of achievement, we had time to reflect on why we’d done it.”

Mark said: “The BHF is a cause that is very close to us as a business and as individuals. Although we’re only a small team, we’re all fully committed to doing things throughout the year to keep raising money for a charity that does some truly ground-breaking things to improve heart health.

“I was lucky enough to get an invite to visit the Glenfield hospital in Leicester recently to see behind the scenes of what the BHF does and the real-life research projects it is currently undertaking. One of the things I took away from the day was that the evidence is mounting up between risk factors such as obesity and the health and function of a heart.

“As a former Acting Staff Sergeant with responsibility for training and testing soldiers on one of the most arduous courses that the British Army has, I know all too well how important physical activity is – and climbing Ben Nevis was a brilliant workout for my heart. Hopefully, the money we have raised will help other people’s hearts.”

As team SR Timber made their way back down the mountain, that’s when they spotted former SAS soldier turned TV star Jason Fox, known as Foxy in the Channel 4 show ‘SAS: Who Dares Wins’.

It turns out that the annual Ben Nevis Race was on that day – which involved getting up and down the mountain as fast as possible – the record being 85 minutes 34 seconds by Kenny Stuart in 1984!

Richard added: “Coming down was more challenging than going up, but we managed to do it in about 2½ hours – probably nowhere near as quick as Foxy – but we’re proud of our achievement and we’re currently collecting the money and are confident that we have raised a large amount for the BHF.”

Keep checking our charity page to keep up to date on our fundraising, or follow us on Twitter @SR_Timber_ for news as it happens. If you want to support us, please visit our Just Giving page.