We are incredibly fortunate as a charity that so many people recognise how vital our services are and fundraise to help provide for those services.
Every so often, one of our fundraisers decides to complete a challenge so monumental and so difficult that we can’t comprehend the sacrifice and drive it must take to complete.
We caught up with Ben Brindley, who has recently finished the Everesting Challenge. As the name hints at, Everesting includes running up and down a chosen hill over and over until you have climbed 8,847m – the equivalent height of Mount Everest. Extraordinarily, Ben did this while pushing a #MakeItVisible wheelbarrow and raised over £6,000 for the Lighthouse Charity in the process. This is what Ben had to say about that event and all of the marathons, 3-peaks and other events he completed as part of both the fundraising and the training:
The wheelbarrow idea initially started out about seven years ago. It was a conversation in a pub with a mate – how hard would it be to do a half marathon with the wheelbarrow?
We shelved the idea because none of the event organisers would let me do it. And then I got involved with the team up at Over the Edge who support the challenge and one of the owners said to me “You’ve got your half marathon personal best. What’s next?”
I thought ‘I fancy revisiting this idea of how fast I could do a half marathon with a wheelbarrow’. There is a huge problem that needs addressing in my industry that feels close to me personally. It needs to be a lot more visible.
I had just come across the #MakeItVisible campaign from the Lighthouse Charity. At the time when I’d had my darkest moments, I didn’t know that support was out there and I thought ‘If I don’t know, who else doesn’t know and needs it?’. People need to know it is there or they can’t access it. A huge part of this challenge was around raising awareness for the Lighthouse.
I used some of their bereavement services when my friend took his own life and saw what his friends and family were going through and it hit home what my friends and family could have gone through. [The Lighthouse] is such an invaluable resource.
I’d just returned from holiday when I received an email saying I could take part in a half marathon with a wheelbarrow but the race was only 3 weeks away. The great team at ITS Vaunt sent us a barrow and we managed to get sorted with our kit and all of the branding. So within around 2 weeks we have gone from nothing to cutting steel out of the wheelbarrow to reduce weight and running the first half marathon.
I messaged one of the Lighthouse’s #MakeItVisible team, Rob, who was in the area and he came down to watch me complete the first half marathon in 1 hour 54 – and with a chest infection. The amount of attention that the wheelbarrow got as we were running was actually quite overwhelming.
We built up the challenges from there. After I found out that my friend Anthony took his own life, I decided to book onto the next races, always looking for what is next. Anthony and I did our first ultra races together so that felt really fitting. Next up was an 8-hour race where I ran 36 miles with the wheelbarrow. It was a really hard race, not only physically but emotionally, having thoughts and memories of Anthony as I was competing.
From there we did Wilmslow Half Marathon and finally managed to get admitted to our first full marathon in Manchester which we completed in 3 hours and 32 minutes. The barrow was featured on the Manchester Marathon social media and generated huge amounts of coverage.
Deciding an 8-hour race wasn’t enough, next was a 12-hour race. Running round and round in a circle on a running rack for 12 hours. The support was amazing and I managed to finish 7th overall.
Following that, we had to get the barrow up Yr Wyddfa (Snowden), which we tried twice. The first time was too dangerous. The wind whipped up so hard that Andy, a friend of mine, got blown off his feet and smashed his face on the floor. The gusts were around 70 miles an hour – we had rocks in the barrow to try and keep it down, but being up that mountain in that weather was just far too dangerous. We had to wait a few weeks before we could try again but Andy couldn’t make it. Again it was a bit blowy and we needed rocks to stop keep the barrow down but we made it and created some memories as well.
Then we did Yorkshire Three Peaks with the Wheelbarrow. Again, I had Andy with us and it was really, really windy – we all have that one friend, a bad luck charm! We again had to weigh the barrow down whilst dealing with wind trying to blow you and the wheelbarrow down the hillside and hail in your face. But that exposure and being in those situations was something I really needed. It isn’t just about building physical strength but mental strength. All of these are such extreme challenges, until you experience it, it is an impossible thing to understand.
This was all building up to running the Everesting challenge. The best way to describe that is the equivalent of running over 4 marathons continuously up a mile-long hill with 165 metres of elevation, down a hill of 165 metres of elevation and to keep doing it over and over 57 times. All of the previous challenges had helped to prepare me as I had to learn to suffer! But that comes with its own issues because you push yourself to a point where it becomes not good for your own mental health, which contradicts everything you are trying to promote.
Everesting was beautifully brutal in every way. The hill has its own challenges, working different muscles. But imagine having something [the wheelbarrow] you are pushing up the hill and then it is dragging you back down and you have to keep it under control. Your biceps, quads are constantly working and dealing with the vibrations of the wheelbarrow. That weekend we also had a lot of heat and humidity and there was very little shade or shelter. I had plenty of friends playing mother and father with suncream and fluids. You know who your friends are when they even change your shoes and socks for you to make sure that you keep going!
I also managed to make a new friend during the process – Mrs Anderson, who is 89 and found out about the challenge from her local Facebook group. She came out 5 times on the first day offering the use of her toilet or a brew if I wanted one. She came out to say goodnight before going to bed and was telling us that she’s got an exercise bike and spins to Build Me Up Buttercup, which we adopted to play as part of the run. She even stayed up to the last rep at 11 o’clock at night. To thank her for her support, we got her a box of chocolates, some flowers and a spare small race vest I had.
During the last 12 hours, my quads started to pack up and this is where I am so grateful for the team of supporters I had around me. They made sure that I was never on my own and made sure that I was OK during the hardest and darkest parts.
You can now find me on the Everesting Hall of Fame. I climbed a total of 9,405 metres in 40 hours, 16 minutes and 56 seconds. I ran a 174.76km at a gradient of 10.8%. And I’m the only person to do it with a wheelbarrow!
To date, we have raised £6,147 – over double the initial target. I hope I can inspire people to raise money and talk about these things.
Thank you, Ben, from everyone at the Lighthouse Charity. Firstly, the critical work that we do to support people in trades and construction would not be possible without the help of fundraisers like you. Secondly, the awareness that you have created for our charity and services on your fundraising journey is invaluable.
You can donate to Ben’s efforts through his JustGiving page here – https://www.justgiving.com/page/benswackyraces
