Taking on the Three Peaks for charity
When Rob Wilson turned 50, he knew he wanted to do something to mark this significant milestone. He decided to take on a wide range of challenges but none as impactful as climbing the three peaks for Hayward House. He shares his story with us.
“I guess my story starts with turning 50 years old in June. As I started to approach my birthday, I started to take a look at my life and wanted to go into my 50s kicking and screaming, so I decided to do a parachute jump, zip line, bungee jump, and drive a sports car just for starters. Then I thought I’d really like to do something for charity, and once I settled on that idea, it was full steam ahead.
My life has been a series of ups and downs. I’ve struggled with depression, anxiety and weight issues for as long as I can remember, so I really wanted to do something that would challenge me, hence why I decided to take on the Three Peaks.
I’ve lost three three-and-a-half stone in preparation and needed to do a lot of practice on my legs as I’ve had both knees replaced. This is one of the reasons why I didn’t do the Three Peaks challenge in one day, as I wanted to split them over three separate weekends and to actually enjoy this beautiful country that we live in.
When it came to choosing a charity to support, it was really straightforward. I’m lucky as I’m still very close to a large group of friends from school. We’ve grown together, played football together, had holidays and celebrated birthdays all as a group, we’re real brothers in arms. Sadly, we lost one of our group members a couple of years ago to cancer. When I visited him in his final days at Hayward House, I was so impressed with the staff there. How they do what they do for the patient and their family is truly inspiring. So I desperately wanted to be able to give something back to them for all their hard work.
I’m so proud of completing the challenge and would recommend taking on something to say thank you to anyone. There was a couple of times where I thought ‘what on earth have I let myself in for’ but, and without sounding cheesy, the thought of who and why I was doing it pushed me forward.
It also spurred me on whilst preparing for the next two walks. The sense of achievement when I reached the top of Snowdon was incredible and somewhat emotional, but overall I felt a sense of pride knowing that I’m making a difference.”
We’re extremely grateful to Rob for taking on this incredible challenge in support for Hayward House. If you would like to do something similar, please get in touch with our team by clicking the button below