A team of solicitors from Blackburn law firm Taylors pushed themselves to the limit by racing 60 miles in under 30 hours - raising more than £3,000 for Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
The team of four – Sean Jackson, Matthew Catterall, Stuart Beatson and Jonathan Lavery - took part in the Trailwalker event, a challenging 60 mile trail across the South Downs on 28-30 July.
Lawyers Sean, 20, Matthew, 31, Stuart, 35, and Jonathan, 31, wanted to take part to push themselves individually and together as a team, as well as giving something back to charity.
The 100km challenge started at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park in Petersfield, and passed nine checkpoints before crossing the finish line at Brighton Racecourse.
They battled with more than 400 teams through atrocious conditions - it rained throughout the first 20 hours until the sun came up the following day, making conditions slippy and treacherous underfoot. Some of the checkpoints were inaccessible and coupled with driving rain and wind overnight the team were wet and freezing for the first 40-45 miles.
The team had two support crew – Taylors’ Commercial Disputes Associate Claire Barnes and Jonathan’s dad Peter Lavery - who were there at each checkpoint to provide much-needed supplies, motivation and encouragement.
Claire Barnes said: “It was a huge achievement to finish as a team of four. They all endured moments where they were tested to the limits.
“The physical issues meant two of the team were in a great amount of pain for sections which slowed them down but, working as a team and helped by support at the checkpoints they got through it together and finished as a four which not a lot of teams did due to the conditions.
“Those lads have got stamina and determination in the bucketloads, and they managed to raise £3,464, which is 115 percent of their target so that’s fantastic!”
Elaine Hurn, Managing Partner at Taylors, said: “This is a great example of how such events can have added benefits to bring back to the workplace. The whole team showed teamwork, leadership, planning and organisational skills, as well as stamina, determination to succeed and loyalty and I am very proud of them all. This is the second time a team from Taylors has completed this enormous task.”
They did a lot of training to build up stamina before the event. Individually they did steady, regular walks over a period of about five months, along with several large group walks culminating in the Yorkshire Three Peaks in early July.
Trailwalker was originally started by the Queen's Gurkha Signals Regiment over 30 years ago as a training exercise to test soldiers' stamina and teamwork skills. The annual event sees hundreds of civilians setting off from the start line alongside the Gurkhas.
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