The Haileybury Society has been contacted by Chris Webster (L 97) who has taken part on the Lakes Multi Activity Challenge to raise money for the Royal Marsden. His team is aiming to raise £5000 and is already nearly 80% there! Here Chris takes up the story…

This year I took part in my company’s charity event in aid of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity which raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre.

Bike it, hike it, paddle it!

The chosen event was the Lakes Multi Activity Challenge, Bike it, Hike it, Paddle it which took place around Coniston village in the Lake District and involved 10 miles of mountain biking, 5 miles of trekking and 2 miles of kayaking.

Before the real event took place the first challenge was getting there. 14 of us crammed into a minibus for a gruelling 9-hour journey on one of the hottest days of the year with malfunctioning air conditioning, a particularly grumpy driver, and the ever present scent of various fast food offerings from service stations, not a good start.

A punishing start…

Image of Chris Webster (L 97) and his team of fundraising cyclists in the Lake District — Ready for the off – Chris Webster and his colleagues at the start of the day

The event itself started off the next morning with mountain biking around the local hills and begun with a steep 20-minute non-stop climb which left many of us quickly regretting the large fry-up we had just finished minutes before (one unfortunate colleague’s breakfast made a reappearance halfway up).

10 miles later and we back where we set off from having all survived some treacherous downhill rocky paths.

Climbing the Old Man

Next up was the hike up the Old Man of Coniston which is highest point of the county of Lancashire. The walk was pretty much vertical the entire way up with rocks and shingle combined with misty conditions making it a more interesting endeavour. This nearly got the better of some of the less prepared members of the team, with a couple getting severe cramps, but through encouragement, determination, and sheer grit we all managed to make it to the top and back down without incident.

Paddling on Lake Coniston

The last leg of trip was the most enjoyable with a two-mile kayak around lake Coniston, a walk in the park compared to the previous two tests which was fortunate as everyone was in a world of pain at that point!

All in all, it was a tough but thoroughly enjoyable challenge for a great cause which I was glad to be a part of it. Let’s see what next year’s challenge brings……

Please support Chris

Chris and his team aim to raise £5000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity; at the time of writing they had received pledges of nearly £4000 on their Just Giving Page. Please do help them by pledging what you can to this most important charity.

Support Chris here

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