A GROUP of 17 people have been undergoing intense training in order to complete a three peaks challenge to raise money for Derian House children’s hospice in Chorley.

The dare-devil team will climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon, all in under 24 hours.

The challenge will start in Fort William at 5am on August 10 and they hope to finish at 5am the next day in Wales.

They have a four-person support team to drive them between the peaks,a nd havebeen sponsored £500 by Shell towards petrol costs.

Rick Aspden, one of the climbers who lives in Colne, said: “We were going to call the challenge ‘Fat Men up a Mountain’ as we were relatively unfit men before we began training for this.

“Now though, it has just snowballed and now more people joined us – some are woman and some are a much fitter than I am.

“The idea started as a bit of a joke but someone mentioned that we could do it to raise money for Derian House, which is such a worthwhile charity that we decided we just had to go for it.”

To sponsor the team, visit www.justgiving.com /teams/3pchallenge.