Two friends have become the first people ever to climb Britain’s Four Peaks in under 24hrs – without the use of air travel.
Freddie John, 21 and Joe Atherley, 23, drove 560 miles, used ferries, ran 30.5 miles and scaled 13,000ft of the UK’s toughest terrains.
The pair, both graduates from University of Exeter, began the journey on June 8.
Within 24 hours they had climbed Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland, Snowdon in Wales, Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland.
They did it in 23 hours and 42 minutes.
Freddie said: “The challenge was incredibly tough.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and we ended up summiting with just 18 minutes of the 24 hours to spare”.
Both have completed the immense venture to raise money for charities close to their hearts – and have already raised over £5,610.
Freddie proposed the audacious idea in August last year.
The set off at 3:30am on June 8 to climb Slieve Donard, the highest mountain in Northern Ireland.
After finishing their descent at 05:37am, they then had to complete the two hour drive to Dublin Port to hop on a ferry to Holyhead and complete the hour drive to Snowdon.
They completed Snowdon in one hour 42 minutes, finishing at 13:32pm, where the team then drove to Scafell Pike to begin their third ascent at 17:55pm.
The boys finished at Scafell Pike at 19:40pm, jumped in a car for the six hour drive to Ben Nevis and embarked on the final peak of their epic journey.
With the boys starting their climb at 01:40am, the pressure was on.
Freddie said: “We had to summit our Ben Nevis time before 04:20.
“I remember standing a quarter of the way up the mountain with 3 mountains-worth of fatigue already in the legs, and realising I just had no energy left”.
Freddie and Joe were not ones to give in, however, as pushing their mental and physical boundaries to the limit – they completed Ben Nevis at 03.52am and cracked open the champagne.
Joe said: “On the day, it actually went quite smoothly.
“We had three different drivers, a ferry – a really good support network that pulled through for us on the day”.
Joe and Freddie are not new to extreme sports, as both prepared for the challenge by running all the distances they needed to beforehand to ensure they were able to complete the seemingly impossible.
Joe, who studied history, is at the start of his career with the Army Reserve and dedicated his fundraising for Help the Heroes “in light of all the fantastic work they do for veterans”.
Freddie, who studied Biochemistry, is supporting Motor Neurone Disease Association, after his school teacher developed MND and MND claimed the lives of two relatives.
Freddie spent the winter working as a ski instructor in Switzerland and will be starting work as a medical researcher this summer.
You can donate to their fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tm5uwz-freddie-and-joes-uk-4-peaks-challenge
