On Saturday 11 March Joe, Zav, Felix, and Shane completed their first challenge of the year to raise funds for the Fire Fighter’s Charity.
The team of four On-Call Firefighters from Whitchurch and Ross-on-Wye Fire Stations embarked on a gruelling challenge of carrying a 70kg dummy casualty the length of the Malvern Hills, transporting it on a stretcher over 18 peaks with a total of 2,348ft of ascent and a distance of 9 miles.
This was no mean feat, drawing on all their strength, stamina and teamwork that they havebuilt up during training for these challenges.
“The Malvern Hills trek is officially in the books, and it’s safe to say it took every bit of grit we had. The pager doesn’t take a night off for a ‘challenge’ – all four of us were out on shouts the evening before, with some of the crew running on less than 3 hours of sleep before we even laced up our boots.”
Battling through relentless conditions, the team faced “hail, driving rain, sun, and gale-force winds,” all while navigating tough terrain and carrying a 70kg dummy on a stretcher.
“Between the lung-bursting inclines and the knee-shredding declines, it became a mental game. There were moments where the legs wanted to quit, but we kept the attitude up and leaned on each other.”
“It’s amazing what you can actually do when you think you’re at your limit. We found out yesterday that we can always push ourselves that little bit further – especially when we’re doing it together.”
“The bodies are feeling it today, but knowing we did it for The Fire Fighters Charity makes every mile and every missed hour of sleep worth it.”
This challenge is one of four, with details to be released shortly on what the next challenges are.
To find out further information about their upcoming challenges or to donate to the cause, click here.