Aptus raise thousands for charity by climbing Yorkshire Three Peaks

Aptus has raised over £2,000 for Derian House Children’s Hospice after entering a team to complete the gruelling Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge.

The almost marathon-length hike involved climbing higher than Ben Nevis and was as mentally demanding as it was physically tough.

The original target of £500 has been smashed and as funds continue to come in to the JustGiving page Aptus has pledged to match the final amount raised, which will currently take the sum to over £4,000.

The challenge took place on Sunday 2nd July in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. After months of training and preparation, 14 colleagues along with family and friends set out to complete a 25-mile hike across the three peaks of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent within 12 hours.

The group made a fantastic start setting off at 5.30am and scaling Whernside, the highest of the three peaks at 736 metres, in 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Shortly after midday, our heroic hikers passed the halfway stage having summitted the second highest peak, Ingleborough, at 723 metres. They had a brief stop to attend to blisters and sore feet before they began the hard slog up Pen-y-Ghent.

Although the smallest of the three peaks at 694 metres, the final climb has some steep slopes making for a tricky finish.

During the day our intrepid trekkers had to contend with a variety of weather conditions, with temperatures dropping to minus 2C degrees in places, as well as experiencing low cloud and poor visibility on higher ground.

As the group made progress Aptus shared news updates on social media, aiming to give sponsorship a boost and spur everyone on.

At around 9.00pm news came through that all the group had safely reached the finish where a pub meal awaited them courtesy of Aptus as a thank you for all their efforts.

Organiser Technical Manager Adrian Cunningham said:

“We all completed it in under the 12-hour mark and had all weather conditions to contend with!

“It was a fabulous day and great to actually get chatting to everyone else in a non-work environment. The meal at the end was a great way to all meet up and laugh about the day.

“It was very hard and tiring and the last miles just lasted forever and this morning getting downstairs was a real challenge – my legs don’t work anymore!”

Motivation for the challenge

Each year Chorley based Derian House Children’s Hospice looks after more than 400 seriously ill children across the North West, operating 24/7 respite and end of life care and support services for families.

Although services are free to families, it costs £6 million a year to run. The charity receives 29% of funding from the NHS and relies heavily on fundraising and support from donors to finance the remainder.

The work they do is extraordinary bringing life-changing respite to families and helping them to create life-long precious memories.

People Director Natasha Clarke said:

“The team were tested physically and mentally and were served a variety of weathers on their journey.

“We’re so proud of the team and the incredible efforts that they have put in to raise such an amazing amount of money for Derian House!”

We are still accepting donations on our fundraising page if you would like to contribute!

Thanks to the following for taking part!

Adrian Cunningham, Lindsay Cunningham, Eleanor Smith, Andrew Smith, Jack Farnworth, Nathan Chapman, Joy Finc, Wendy Little, Jordan Allison, Liam Nuttall, Lydia Dodd, Kate Dodd, Mica, and Howard Susman. Special thanks also to Alex Charnock for keeping everyone hydrated and spirits up throughout the day!

Published on 6th July 2023