Submariners Brian Rustage, Grant Shuttleworth, Craig Walker and supported by driver, Nick Rustage recently completed the 24 hour three peaks challenge, raising money for We Remember Submariners.
In preparation, they did a lot of training walks in North Wales, including many of the summits close to Snowdon, which did much to improve the fitness levels of the group.
On the journey North, they had seen many road signs which had indicated a road closure but they had given themselves sufficient time to change their start time. It wasn't all plain sailing, as they had a few weather issues to deal with during the challenge. The first was on Ben Nevis which they completed in a time of 5hrs 8 minutes, slightly longer than planned as the summit had a covering of thick snow which slowed them down a bit . Following the first peak, they made good time on the journey into the Lake District, despite numerous 50 mile speed restrictions on the M6. This allowed the walkers to get some sleep, and take some nourishment before Driver Nick pulled into Wasdale Head at 02:26 at the start of the next hike up Scafell Pike, in pouring rain. They set off 10 minutes later and headed off to climb the summit of Scafell Pike, knowing they had to claw some time back to give them a realistic time to complete the challenge. The rain did clear eventually as the dawn approached, it was at this point that they met a couple making their decent who had got engaged on the top at sunrise and wished them well. It took them an impressive 1 hour 42 minutes to reach the summit and an overall time of 3 hours 30 minutes to get back to the vehicle. Regaining some time back. After an uneventful journey into Snowdonia, they made it to Pen Y Pass car park, at the foot of Snowdon. They were joined by driver Nick on the last climb to provide moral support.
It proved to be a long hard slog, but they dug deep and managed to summit Snowdon in just under 2hrs. At the summit they asked two ladies who were passing to take the photo. Coincidentally, they were both serving in the Royal Navy. After another quick decent they completed the Challenge in 23hrs 1 minute which was amazing.
Brian Says “My love of hiking in the Mountains came from my dad and I know he would have been proud of us raising money for such a great charity.”
On behalf of everyone at WRS, Well done lads. A fantastic effort and well inside the challenge time. BZ!
