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RAILWAY CHILDREN
RAILSTAFF SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2021
REPORT BY MATT ATKINS
TACKLING THE THREE PEAKS WITH RAILWAY CHILDREN
R
ailway Children’s Three Peaks Challenge by Rail made its comeback this year, and on Thursday 9 September, teams drawn from across the rail industry set out on to conquer Britain’s highest summits. The return of the event, which first took place in 2004, represented a huge effort by the entire rail industry to generate much needed funds in support for the charity’s work. The event sees participants attempt to scale the UK’s three highest peaks over two days. Teams are ferried between each location in a train specially chartered by the charity, which also provides food and refreshments. The event raises funds to help Railway Children provide protection and opportunities for children in the UK, India and East Africa.
LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES Forty teams took on this years’ challenge, which incorporated more than 27 miles of climbing and 3,200 metres of ascent, and while more teams had signed up to take part, a number were forced to withdraw after testing positive for Covid. Unsurprisingly, staging such an event poses a raft of challenges in these new and unusual times. “We’ve been doing this since 2004,” explained Katie Mason, Railway Children’s Event Manager, “but unfortunately a lot of companies that have supported us before didn’t make it through the pandemic. Previously, all the catering for the two days has been donated to us, but this year that couldn’t happen. Also, we didn’t have a kitchen car this year. Thankfully, VolkerRail stepped in as a food sponsor for the event and helped us with some of the costs for that.”
For starters, the charity had to factor in all the health and safety requirements that an event of this scale demands. “The train was adapted for Covid and had screens between the seats,” said Katie, “we also had a cleaner onboard the train who made sure it was kept clean. Our main sponsor, Porterbrook, provided goodie bags which included hand sanitiser, and everyone was asked to take a lateral flow test before they joined the train.”
HITTING THE HILLS By all accounts, the event was a huge success. Railway Children raised over £200,000, and participants have praised the charity for putting the challenge back on the calendar. “It was great to finally hit the hills and begin this adventure after it was postponed because of the pandemic,” said Martin Berry, Engineering Director at Mechan. Martin completed the challenge along with Service Manager, Dean Fisher and Service Engineer, Jonathon Smith. The trio embarked from Crewe station on the evening of 9 September, to complete their first climb up Snowdon overnight. From there, they travelled to Ravenglass to scale Scafell Pike and then took a night train to Fort William to tackle the UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, in the Scottish Highlands. RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF
