Being a vet is demanding but Cambridge student Ben Crowter recently demonstrated that he has all the qualities needed to succeed in his future career after completing the Three Peaks Challenge.
After a friend was diagnosed with acute leukaemia just after Christmas, fifth year student Ben says that it really brought home the importance of the work carried out by charities and he decided to tackle a big fund raising challenge. Ben’s aim was to put together a team that would tackle 3 peaks in 3 countries in just 24 hours and raise £5000.
With the help of sponsors such as Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Cambridge based outdoor shop Open Air, Ben’s team began their epic journey climbing Ben Nevis at 5pm on 5th August. Despite basking hot sunshine across the rest of the country, the mountain still posed risks with pockets of snow several feet deep but the climb was completed at 9pm. After realising that their minibus was speed restricted to just 62 mph the pressure was on to make up time lost on the road. At three in the morning Scafell Pike was next on the list and took four hours. A long drive to Snowdon saw a 12 noon start and at 4.30pm the challenge was complete in a nail biting 23 hours and 23 minutes.
Ben describes how he felt, “Elated on completion of a long-time ambition; relieved, that all the planning had been worthwhile; amazed, at the number of sponsors which kept appearing online as we climbed (we kept checking the Justgiving site using iphones); tired, with only a handful of naps since the night before the challenge; in pain, as a knee injury I sustained the week previous had flared up badly; thankful, that we were all safely down the mountains.”
Ben wasn’t the only member of the team to suffer, “I learnt a lot about my fellow team members’ grit and determination. Several were close to throwing in the towel at times and one team member twisted his ankle badly near the start of Ben Nevis and turned back so as not to hold back the rest of the team. ”
To date Ben has raised £9,790, smashing his previous fund raising target. You can read Ben’ story and help him raise more for Leukaemia Research by going to http://www.justgiving.com/bencrowter3peaks.
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