A team of fundraisers have vowed to try again to break the world record for the furthest distance climbed on a 10m fire ladder in eight hours, after falling short in their first attempt at the weekend.
After eight hours of climbing, the team of 10 racked up 39,100m, coming in 3,190m short of the 42,290m world record held by a team of firefighters from Kent.
Unexpected hot weather was to blame for the narrow miss. “For almost half of the day we were ahead of world record pace, but the weather took us by surprise,” said organiser Rachel Clark.
“The heat broke us, the sun started pouring down on us and the temperature rose to 26 degrees, which we weren’t expecting. We started dropping like flies despite us trying our best”.
Despite the blazing sun, the team persevered and continued climbing. “I am very proud that we went for the full eight hours, as there was a possibility that we were going to call it off because of the hot weather.
“We are going to try again. We know what’s required now and next time we can get the timing of the breaks right and also make sure we manage our food and supplements, so that we can concentrate better. Don’t forget, the current world record holders made two attempts before being successful.
We’ve got the appetite for it now, we won’t give up.”
The team is aiming to try again later in the year in the autumn or in spring next year when the weather is cooler. The challenge was set up to raise valuable funds for two local causes We Hear You (WHY) a cancer counselling service and Jamie Mines, a friend of the team, who suffered life-changing amputations following an accident at work last year. The final amount hasn’t been calculated yet, but it is expected to be well over £5,000.
Full of praise for the team’s efforts, Fundraising and Communications Manager from WHY, Gemma Wilkes, said “This team have been incredible, their dedication and commitment to both training and fundraising has been so inspiring. It was wonderful to see so many people come out in support on the day and we can not thank everyone who has supported this challenge enough. Rachel has said she will be back to push for that record at a later date and we will be behind her and the team every step of the way.”
