Starring: Alan, Claire, Mark, Pete, Alistair, Ian and Michelle. See the team details page. For those who wish a shorter version (look! our challenge was twenty four hours! What's your problem?) click here. Or for an even shorter one, the summary in haiku. For those who want even more than what's here - have a read of the training trip the team took a couple of months ealier. In November 2005 Deben Rotaract was contacted with a mission they didn't deserve. This club promptly signed up for the difficult challenge, covering the whole of the UK. Now, with money raised, and routes planned, they proceed as amateur mountain adventurers. If they can climb three mountains, if they can do it in 24 hours, maybe they can complete... The Rotaract Mountain Challenge. It's been a long trek. From the initial "We'd like volunteers for a Rotaract team in the Rotary Mountain Challenge event", to seven Rotaractors from Ipswich (Rotary district 1080) boarding a minibus bound for Scotland. For a full history, read the blog, but for the moment, here's the quick version; The challenge was to climb three mountains - Stob Ban in Scotland, Helvellyn in England, and Snowdon in Wales - in 24 hours. That, and to raise £5000 for Sight Savers International.

At 9.40am on Friday the 23rd of June, 2006, seven Rotaractors from Ipswich gaped in awe and climbed aboard their minibus to start their journey to Scotland. The reason for the awesome gaping was directly connected to the minibus. This fine beast of a vehicle, towering above the Rotaractors as if they were ants, somewhat took the 'mini' part of it's description with a pinch of salt. It had been loaned by a local company, the C.E.L. group, and is regularly used by various charities. For this reason, someone had decided that the colour scheme should be yellow.

Yellow, with a red parcel ribbon tied around it, and bows at the top. One thing was for sure, the Rotaract team would be noticed. Given that the team would be spending so much time in the bus over the next couple of days, some might have given it a name. But Rotaractors are made of more serious stuff. The team decide on Bob. The journey began... As a way of passing the time, Mark explained that he had done some careful calculations, and so if people would like to join in... "386,724 green bottles, hanging on the wall". It was going to be a long journey. Their first scheduled stop was to have been near Newcastle, in order to pick up the eight member of the team. Sadly, Andrew had called in a few days earlier with a bad back, and would be unable to do the walk. One team member down and they hadn't even got to the first mountain... Fortunately, this injury was made up for by the fact that Claire, who had been suffering from a bad knee since a practice walk along a beach (she'd been fine up Snowdon two days beforehand!), had decided it was now healed enough, so she would once again be walking. This was a great relief to Mark, who was now back to his pre-reserve-walker job of driving the bus. After passing Edinburgh they made their way through a succession of small Scottish towns. Claire encourages everyone to wave at the people in the street - some of whom wave back, some don't. "It's not like they can claim they didn't see us in this thing!". As Ian and Mark drive the bus (taking turns, not working as a pair) along the country lanes, up and down the hills, and over small streams, the whole thing starting to feel like the titles of Postman Pat. The gang realised they are not going to make it to their hotel at the time they said and so a revised estimate is phoned in... followed a couple of hours later by a second revised estimate - it seems Scottish country lanes are a lot slower than motorways - who'd have guessed?

During the final approach to Fort William (the town they'd be staying in) night finally began to draw in around 11pm. Ian stopped the bus at the entrance to a mountain canyon, following the directions of the red traffic light - it appeared there were road works ahead. Due to the bend it was unclear how far they proceeded, but based on how long they had to wait the guess was half a mile. It turned out to be about... half a mile of roadworks, which Ian merrily sped by, with Claire waving at the workmen. Suddenly, the various occupants of the bus found gravity temporarily inverted, and they bounced back into their seats after a short stay on the roof. It seems one of the reasons for the roadworks was to fix the pot hole in the road. This particular 'pot' being of the sort that remote tribes use to cook teams of explorers in. Ian changes pace to merrily drift slowly by the workmen instead.

Reaching the hotel, the team checks in and enjoy a quick drink in the bar. Ian pops outside into the rain for a quick look at a rescue helicopter which was landing nearby. It seems it was bringing back a small party of amateur walkers. Everyone tries not to make any connection to their planned activities. Saturday. The team wake up and make their way downstairs. Alistair attracts the waiters attention due to his practice of eating muesli for breakfast. Without milk. Registration for the main event is scheduled for 2pm, so the team drive over to the mountain car park, in order to make sure they're there in time. Arriving at 10.30am they find no one from Sight Savers or Rotary is present yet. Deciding there is a little time to spare, they drive back to Fort William, which was clearly closer than they'd thought, and spend some time in the Highland Gift Shop. After trying on the 'wee jimmy' hats, and going 'ooh' and 'arrh' at all the stuffed Nessies, they put some money in the mountain rescue donation box, just in case. They take a photo of this, in case the mountain rescue require proof. The Intrepid Ipswichers take lunch at a built-for-tourists restuarant off the road to Ben Nevis. This is quite a large place, but they were the only customers. The waiter seemed to be the only member of staff, but if he was also the chef, then he was very good at it, as the food was gorgeous. Their host didn't bat an eyelid when six of the party ordered burgers all round (prime Scottish beef burgers of course), and happily appeared anytime they needed anything. This worried the group, who started checking for hidden microphones. Returning to the Stob Ban car park, the fashionably early friends find a fine selection of fellows in the form of a number of Rotary clubs. In total, 14 teams were taking part in the event. The Rotaract team was noteworthy for several points. First, they were the youngest there. Tied in to this, they were the only non Rotarian team present. They were also the only team in a bright yellow, parcel tied 'mini'bus, called Bob.

After chatting with a few of the other teams, the Rotaractors made their way to the starting point for their briefing. In fact, there were three briefings, by different people on the organising team, who were nothing if not thorough. First, a kit check (maps, compasses, whistles...) then a safety briefing (if it all goes wrong, hide under your shelter and eat the weakest members of the team until help arrives) and a technical briefing (walkie-talkies were issued so teams could check in at various points). Then they were ready to go...

A big thing had been made of the fact that the Global Challenge team (who organised the event) were very keen on making as little impact on the area as possible. There were firm rules about the lateness of the hour in which teams were allowed to drive through populated areas. So when Team Rotaract was given the go ahead to start by use of an air horn, they wasted no time in heading up the hill away from the lunatics. Rotaractors are a keen bunch, which was why they were the first team to leave - they had been the first club to sign up to the Rotary sponsored event. Despite the firm pace at which the five walkers began their trek, Ian and Mark spent 10 minutes chasing ahead of them, taking photos, and then chasing on again. The pair soon tired of this and decided to do something else. So they went for a walk elsewhere. Half an hour into this they realised they were climbing a mountain, which somewhat defeated to object of them not doing the walking, so they return to the camp for the drivers briefing, before relaxing in the minibus for a bit. Meanwhile, hundreds of feet above them, the fearsome five are making their way up Stob Ban. Claire and Alan take the lead, Michelle in the middle, with Pete and Alistair taking the rear guard. Every so often the these last two would try a different path up which looked easier, and find themselves overtaking. Suitable reprimanding puts them back in their place. In an effort to slow them down a bit (and, we're sure, for no other reason), Alistair is given Claires pack to carry. Some Rotarian teams overtake them. Down below... Mark passes the time with Ian. "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'M'", says Mark. "Minibus.", guesses Ian. "Your turn." As the Scottish fog closes in on those with the more exciting task, they find themselves increasingly having to consult the map, and feel round for local landmarks. Unfortunately the map doesn't seem to show the various rocks and so a game of guessing which bits of darker fog might actualy be distant mountain peeks, which could be used to navigate. At one point the fog clears suddenly, and Claire finds herself on a ridge with half a mountains drop on either side. In the car park, Ian has spied something beginning with 'R'. "Rotaractor?", guesses Mark. "No". "Rotarian?"...

Pete, having earned the nickname of The Mountain Goat during the training trip has no problem on the now slippery terrain. Grass, gravel and rocks are no problem for him. Both Pete and Alistair, still taking their lead from the others, have no trouble in locating them even with the thick mist all around them. They just follow the sounds of Claire squealing and swearing as she slips on the grass, gravel and rocks. Some more Rotarians overtake.

"Radio?". "No". "Rabbit?". "No"... Finally, they reach the top of the mountain. 3277 feet above sea level. Although with the amount of moisture in the air they may as well have been at -10. The two below decide to go off for a bite to eat, Mark having given up trying to guess what turned out to be 'Rock'. As their teammates fought their way down, through wind and fog, over hazardous terrain, with Rotarians overtaking them on all sides, the ground crew tuck into some venison pate, washed down with Iron Bru. Returning to the base camp they keenly watch for the return of the comrades, trying to estimate their arrival time. In the end they take a guess based on when various Rotary teams last saw them. The cunning plan was for Mark and Ian to prepare a healthy meal, ready to eat when the others arrived. With a couple of camping stoves they had previously boiled water, stored in thermoses, ready for the 15 minute warning they'd estimated they'd get that the others would be arriving. At which point they'd put the hot water back on, bring it to the boil, and pop in the field rations they'd brought on the Blacks 30% off shopping trip. This careful planning, and igneous preparation would have looked a lot better if it wasn't for the Rotarians on either side of Bob who were sitting on deck chairs around tables, with gas barbeques cooking up sausages to go with the 3 course meals that seem to have been prepared. The great feast began shortly before the Rotaract wanders arrived. Unfortunately, the dinner guests were a large family of midges which had decided to congregate around the Rotaract camp, and in particular on Marks body. Such gorging has rarely been seen since the middle ages, and the Scottish midgie population was saved from starvation for another week.

The Rotaractors arrived, the meals were given to them, and the minibus made a dramatic and fast exit. Actually, it took about 30 minutes all in all, but the principle was sound. As the parcelled behemoth of the vehicle world started it's trip to the next mountain, in another country, a number of inch thick bloated midges staggered home saying to each other that they wouldn't see eating like that again for many a moon.

By the time they reached England, the moon was up, the rain had begun, and the country lanes had grown into motorways. Sadly, they were soon to shrink back to windy lanes as at around 2.00am the team entered the Lake District. During the trip, everyone restocked themselves with various foods. Alistair alarmed Pete somewhat by his method of eating certain fruits. Neither oranges or lemons would be peeled before hand. Michelle, Mark and Claire merrily tucked into a selection of chocolates. Alan was happy so long as he had a good supply of TrailMix (tm). It was as they made their final approach to Helvellyn that Alistair made a funny joke. The man who spends half his waking time in the gym, the gentleman known on the team as 'The Fit One', indeed the said same individual who is regularly contacted by medical researchers who wish to examine The Perfect Body, came out with an absolute corker to do with having sprained his ankle, and would probably not be able to walk the next hill. Oh, how the team laughed. As they wiped the tears from their eyes, Alistair walked a few steps... 'walked' being something of a generous description as it implies putting one foot in front of the other. This was not the exact system in use at this moment, and the team realised he wasn't fooling. As they wiped the tears from their eyes, the remaining four got their gear together and made for the bottom of the mountain. Let us digress briefly and consider the miracles of nature. Take for example, the Sun. Some think of this football sized circle of light as magic, hovering mere miles above the ground. Others, with a slightly greater education, believe it to be a burning mass consisting of billions of tons of hydrogen and helium. It's a wonderful feature of the solar system, and is what allows plants to grow, solar panels to work, and mountain climbers to see where they are going. Unfortunately, someone had decided to put a planet between the sun and this particular mountain, and this resulted in our brave Deben Rotaractors climbing up Helvellyn in the dark. It was also as good a reason as any for the ground crew, now grown in number by 50%, to get some sleep.

All was going reasonably well on the mountain. The dark was proving little obstacle to the team, as they had been up this particular route during their training walk two months previously, so knew the way. They were armed with head torches, although with the rain and mist these simply illuminated a glowing area of air around them. Still, they always had the option of following the glowing air pockets of various Rotarians as they overtook their youthful counterparts. Still, perseverance lasts out, and as dawn crept over the horizon, our morning mountaineers made their way towards the summit.

On the ground, the drivers awake, and set off on a little drive to the other side of the mountain. The Helvellyn route had the various teams walking up one side, and walking down the other. The trip round the mountain was fairly routine; Mark and Alistair had been this way during the training week. Both, however, were dreading one part of the drive... The Struggle. The Struggle is a very scenic road going from the village of Ambleside up through Kirkton Pass. Unfortunately, when driving, the only view you have is that of the sky. The gradient of 1 in 3, combined with the narrow, winding, road was a great opportunity to show what Bob the minibus was really made of. Three miles of first gear finally brought the three occupants up the 1,300 feet in just ten minutes. Meanwhile, the four on the mountain are having an easy time of it. The Sun has worked it's way around the Earth, and is shining down. The rain has relaxed into a drizzle, and the rate of passing Rotarians has slowed to just one team an hour. As the morning reaches a time that is recognisable, the three in the bus look out at the Rotary vehicles parked near by. They've put their gazebos up, and are preparing full English breakfasts on their barbeques. Tables are being layed with condiments and cutlery, while napkins are being folding into a selection of local bird shapes. With that feeling you get when your plane has just landed, and you realised you've not only left your toothbrush at home, but you just Know you've left the door open, Ian and Mark look at the nearby bacon, eggs and kippers and spot the cunning flaw in the plan. They have no breakfast. Somehow, in the months of planning, the team had only sorted out one meal. This was not, however, the worst problem. It was approaching 7.30am... the team had started at 2.30am... and they should have been down long before now. It can't simply be that Claire was going slower now she was carrying her own pack... Something, the car park Rotaractors decided, had gone wrong. Shortly after reaching the top of Helvellyn, Claires knees started to give her problems. It seems they hadn't fully healed after all. It was not long before she was hobbling so feebly that her three friends, caring deeply for her, considered radioing down for mountain rescue. But, they reasoned, this would delay them even more and they'd never hit the 24 hour target, and that wouldn't do at all. Taking their time going down, the four eventually reached the youth hostel they had stayed in before. From here it was a mile or so down a gently sloping road to the base camp. Alan and Claire took the walk slowly, while Michelle and Pete ran ahead to alert the ground crew, and to check in with the organisers. Petes speed down this road was considerably faster than when he had driven his sports car down on their previous stay. During the final stages of their decent, the three lads on the ground were considering... "Let's just say we'd assumed it was a plan to aid quick departure..." Mark takes a little walk, perhaps with the hope of finding some wild berries and nuts to feed the others. Instead, he finds the village cafe has opened early (it is before 8 on a Sunday morning). It seems the Rotary club of Thrapsond had also been to Helvellyn before, during which they had timed their trip down from the youth hostel, and arranged with the cafe to open early and pre-booked breakfast. They'd then phoned in when passing the hostel and had arrived to an indoor meal with all the trimmings. Mark orders half a dozen bacon butties and returns back to the bus as Alan and Claire struggle in. Putting the bus into gear, Ian drives off... next stop Wales. One driver change later, and they approach Snowdon. This is, amazingly enough, the first time the group take a wrong turn, and after a short tour of a nearby town, the gang find themselves at the bottom of the highest mountain in Britain. While Alistair and Claire hobble off to the medical hut for some professional sympathy, the remaining three walkers prepare themselves for the final assent. Michelle psyches herself up and insists to all that they WILL complete the task in the allotted time. Alan affixed his TrailMix nosebag and Pete calmly puts his boots on. The last episode for the budding Jack Bowers of Rotaract was about to begin.

Mark and Ian had also planned to go up this particular mountain, but as the train was broken, they decided not to. Michelle had been on a practice walk just two weeks earlier, and had clocked in at a little over five hours. They started their climb at 11.45am. For those paying attention, the team had started Stob Ban at 4.00pm... the event lasts 24 hours... and so they had a little over four hours to complete the magnificent mountain.

Alan sets the pace. Then stops after a moment for the others to catch up. This is to be the way of things for the next few hours... Ian has a little doze, while Mark, Claire and Alistair go for a drink. Yes, this final hill was going to be the most difficult. The climb up Snowdon is not particularly steep - certainly it has a lower gradient than the last two mountains - but the path does go on for some distance. The base camp contigent, now outnumbering their mountain walking counterparts, check into the hotel. Claire goes for a lie down. Alistair too. Mark takes a wander round the local woods. Ian takes a walk up one of the nearby hills. On the slopes of Snowdon, in a moment of great excitement, it looked like the Rotaract team were going to overtake some Rotarians, but it turned out to be some Welsh walkers who had slowed down for a rest. Time passes... Mark receives a phone call from Ian. "Th-- *fizzle* -ast- *crackle* -ing", "I'm sorry, didn't quite get that, say it again...", "They've just past me, and they were running!". "Where are you?"...

As Mark, Claire, Alistair and Ian head on down to the finishing line, their comrades from the hills are already there... triumphant. And panting a bit. The seven Rotaractors from Suffolk open a bottle of bubbly, and collapse down on the grass. Three mountains. Three countries. 22 hours and 59 minutes!

Epilogue After resting for a bit in their hotel rooms, Ian, Mark, Claire, Alistair, Alan, Michelle and Pete walk, stride, hobble, limp, stroll, stagger and flop (respectively) into the hotel ballroom for a buffet with the other 13 teams, and the presentations. The crowd wince as Claire makes her way to the front to receive the certificate from Mike Webb, RGBI president. The fastest team was the Rotary club of Otley, coming in with a time of 20 hours, 42 minutes, the slower ones not quite making the 24 hours. There follows a small number of additional awards, and Rotaract is invited up once more to receive one. For 'Best Effort' they accept a bottle of Champagne for persevering, despite their team dropping like flies, and for completing the final leg of Snowdon in a record 30 minutes. (Total Snowdon time - 3 hours, 16 minutes - a good 45 minutes faster than the next closest!)

The next day, on the drive back to Ipswich, the team concluded that despite the problems, it had been worth the effort. While the final total was still unknown, they look set for hitting the £5000 target, with the money going to Sight Savers International. Claire leans back in her seat and casually asks if anyone would like to do a coast to coast cycle ride next year. Following the short selection of responses, she decides to wait a few days before asking again.

See the statistics page, if your mind runs to such things. Quotes (aka 'The True Stuff') "I'm an expert at knowing where the mayonnaise is" - Pete "There's less sheep on the A1" - Mark "I think anything you drive past Newcastle is going to be uncomfortable" - Alan "Ah, look at the little porks... That's not what they're called are they?" - Claire "So, your pie is 1% better than his [Marks] life" - Claire to Pete "I can't believe my life has been changed so much by a yoyo" - Pete "You've got your panty liners" - Mark "No, they're for my headaches" - Claire "We're not drunk, we're just high" - Ian "I'm going to be so high going up and down the mountains" - Claire "Alistair can be whinny-the-bloody-pooh" - Claire "I can see a line of muscle" - Michelle "Are you sure it's not just midgie bites in a row?" - Mark "What kinds of herbal teas do you have?" - Claire "All kinds of weirdo stuff" - Scottish Waiter "I'll start reading my Dan Brown - that'll numb the pain" - Pete "I only have milk in my sugar when I'm having Rice Frosties" - Claire "If anyone from Rotraract is able to make it up..." - Chap announcing certificates "Throwing up is my bodies way of saying 'You're a twat" - Pete "Anyone for a date?" - Alistair "Sorry Alistair, you're not my type" - Alan

For shorter descriptions about some of our past events, click here For full writeups of some of our other trips, enjoy; The RGBI Conference 2007 - A weekend in Watford, with Christmas Down Under and Miss Rotaract UK. Back To Front 2006 - Not an event to get cross when dressing up. Holiday in Amsterdam - Forign travel, to a city of culture. And a cool Red Light district. Banbury Camping 2006 - Christmas comes early! The Mountain Challenge weekend - The main event. 24 hours of up and down the hills. The Mountain Challenge training week in the Lake District. Getting fit for the Mountain Challenge. The RGBI Conference 2006 in the Lake District. Treasure hunt pubcrawls, presentations by Deben and the Aliens of Rendlesham Forest. The Superhero Charity Pubcrawl raised money for our Mountain Challenge Sightsavers project. The Back to Front party took Deben to Bournemouth. With lots of other Rotaractors we did stuff backwards. Banbury Camping 2005 brought 200 Rotaractors and friends together for a weekend of fun and campness. The RGBI Conference 2005 was in Bristol, and Rotaractors from all over the UK met up for the annual conference. A serious weekend, with spacehopper races. Messing Around in Boats - Debens trip on the Norfolk Broads. We'd love to hear from you if you are interested in coming to an event, or if you are a local charity or community project and would like our assistance. We'd also like to hear from you if you have any feedback on the web site. Deben Rotaract contacts: Email: enquiries@debenrotaract.org.uk Call Dan on 07740165109 or Tash on 01473721153

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