Each year, our Site Assistant Ian Spriggs sets himself a gruelling fundraising challenge to raise awareness for NSPKU – a small charity dedicated to improving the lives of people living with the rare condition PKU. This summer, he pushed himself to the limit for his charitable endeavour. During the weekend of 22nd and 23rd August, Ian scaled Blencathra 14 times, covering 66.69miles and climbing 29,144 feet (the equivalent to the height of Everest), in the space of just over 31 hours. To add to the difficulty, he endured temperatures up to 35 degrees Celsius.
Ian admitted: “This has been my toughest challenge. I will never do anything like this again.”
Thankfully, Ian did not face the struggle alone. Along with the unrelenting support from his wife Sharon, many friends and colleagues from William Howard School joined him on ascents, providing encouragement and motivation to keep going. Astoundingly, a Year 8 WHS Mountain Runner (Louise A) who came along with her family managed an admirable five laps of the fell climb.
Looking back on his achievement, Ian acknowledged, “This last week has afforded me the time to reflect on the challenge; to look back at it and to see why it was such a success. The success of completing this challenge was, in my eyes, down to everyone else involved. From when I first mentioned the idea, during it and at the end the whole challenge is a superb advert for goodness. The fact that everyone involved gave up their time to help me is incredible, the efforts of Sharon Spriggs and everyone else at base camp was incredible, the people on Blencathra with me were incredible, the distances and elevation other people covered was incredible.”
He added: “It was a great success for WHS, for camaraderie, for friendship, for strangers coming together. Besides the tiredness, it was just perfect.”
Headteacher, Kath Pigdon accompanied Ian on seven of the ascents. She commented: “Ian’s ascent of Blencathra 14 times is an incredible achievement, but the statistics only tell a small part of the story. Raising money for a cause so close to his heart kept Ian going – if he suffered, others might suffer less.
“Over those 31 hours, Ian inspired us to: never lose your sense of humour, no matter how hard things get; be passionate about something and you will achieve; and never, ever give up. But perhaps just as importantly, he reminded us that when you know you are not alone, you can accomplish truly great things.”
The extreme exertion was made worthwhile by the generous donations given for this small but vital charity. The target of £2000 is close to being attained and donations are still welcome, so if you can help Ian reach this summit, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/ian-spriggs-4.
