A WESTBURY woman is gearing up to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, the climax of a trio of fundraising challenges.
Charlie Hocking ran the Yeovil Half Marathon in March and completed the Three Peaks Challenge in June. But her sights are set even higher with her final challenge, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro between 27th July and 3rd August.
Charlie is raising money for Cancer Research UK and hopes to raise £5,000 for the charity.
Charlie reports “On the morning of the Yeovil Half it was a barmy 1-2 degrees before wind chill! It was the challenge that I was looking forward to the least or I should say dreading the most!
“The furthest I had run before the event was 10 miles, so I knew it was achievable, however, as I had already convinced myself that I wouldn’t enjoy it, I was not think particularly positively and it stopped me from achieving a time I was capable of!”
Three months later Charlie was doing the Three Peaks Challenge, which involves walking the highest mountains in Scotland, England, and Wales within 24 hours. She had attempted the challenge three times before.
Charlie reports, “We reached Snowdon summit in 1 hour 55 mins in time for a quick photo and then high tailed it back down to complete the whole mountain in 3hrs 29mins, the target being 4hrs! Usually I’ve hated Snowdon but doing it first made it a much more enjoyable mountain; it’s now my new favourite!
“We set off up the highest peak (hill) in England, Scarfell Pike, at 2.45am at a steady but slow pace as the weather was continuing to be typically “British”! It took us around two hours to reach the peak, snap a few quick photos and leg it back down to complete Scarfell in 3hrs 45mins at just gone 6.30am on Saturday morning.
“At around 11.55 we started up Ben Nevis. When we did finally reach the top I made a beeline for the trig point and photo opp then without even looking around headed back down because, for the first time in four attempts, we finally had a chance at breaking the elusive 24hr barrier! We made a good pace and completed the challenge in 22:50:58. I can tick it off my bucket list and look forward to Kilimanjaro next!”
You can sponsor Charlie at www.justgiving.com/ lottie-hocking
Alternatively you can send a text message with your donation quantity using the code CHOC49 £2/£5/£10/£20 to 70070 .
