A group of friends from the Midlands picked up major honours at this year’s Wooden Spoon Four Peaks Challenge and helped pledge £265,000 for disadvantaged youngsters and their families.
Richard and Lucy Norman, of Edgbaston, and John Parnell, of Warwick, teamed up with John Blackman, who lives in Chelsea, to scale four of the highest mountains in the British Isles and Ireland – Ben Nevis, Helvellyn, Snowdon and Carantouhill in Killarney, south west Ireland – in just 48 hours.
The two Johns, who are colleagues at JHC, and Richard, who used to work for the company, completed the 14,000 ft climb in 10 hours, 21 minutes and 49 seconds, while Lucy took on the role of team driver. The quartet pledged £5,000.
However, it was their prowess in climbing Helvellyn in a time of one hour, 39 minutes and 14 seconds that won them the prestigious Helvellyn Award. The Four Peaks Challenge is one of the Spoon Challenges fundraising events and has been staged annually since 1991.
Each team commits to raising at least £4,400 for Wooden Spoon, which uses the money to fund a variety of capital projects across the UK and Ireland. The JHC team was one of 39 teams that pledged £265,104 in total.
“We had a fantastic time and winning an award is really the icing on the cake, although it does show that the months of training were worth it after all!” said team captain Richard.
“The Four Peaks Challenge is a great event and because you get people like us, who have competed a number of times over the years, lining up alongside teams that are entering for the first time, there’s a real mix of ages and abilities.”
