News

William Smith Welder and Fabricator, Josh Macdonald, recently completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on August 13th in aid of local mental health charity, Man Health.

Josh only began hiking regularly at the start of the summer as a means of living a healthier lifestyle and immediately recognised the beneficial impact that it had on his own mental health. Over the last two months, Josh and his friends, Jack Whitbread and Adam Wheeler have completed roughly 25 of the 214 Wainwrights, with the aim to eventually complete all of them. What they didn’t realise at the time was that they were preparing for their biggest challenge yet, the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge involves hiking to the peak of Yorkshire’s first, second, and ninth highest peaks, with the aim of completing the entire circuit in under 12 hours.

The initial idea only originated a month before the eventual date and with limited time available, they decided to share their story with friends, family, and the wider community to help raise awareness and funding for a local charity of their choice. With the undeniable benefits that walking has on mental health, it seemed only appropriate that this would be the focus of their fundraising campaign. A local men’s mental health charity, Man Health, was selected and so the task of raising as much money as possible began.

The original target for the fundraiser was £500 but this was quickly exceeded within a few days of launch. Slightly overwhelmed by the positive response they had received, the group decided to extend the target to £1,000. A few days passed by and the target was met again. After raising the target two more times over the next couple of weeks, the eventual figure on the day of the hike was over £2,000.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge begins and ends in the small village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale and covers 24.5 miles (39.2 kilometres), meaning Josh and his friends raised roughly £1 for every 20 metres they walked on the day!

Josh and the others camped locally the night before as their journey was due to begin in the early hours of the morning. The hike began at around 4:30 am in an attempt to beat the heat, with a slightly unfavourable forecast of 28 degrees inbound later in the day.

The group completed the challenge in just over 11 hours, with the current total sitting at £2,080 from a total of 120 different donors.

Well done to Josh and the others. What a brilliant effort by all.

To find out more about Man Health and the fantastic work they do, you can visit their website here.

If you’d like to donate to Man Health, you can do so by using Josh’s link here.

The fundraiser is due to end later this month.