Day Four Taking Its Toll

Day four ended with disappointment for Sip, as the team transferred back to Dishforth in the early hours of Friday morning, the second clockwise loop of the Yorkshire Three Peaks deemed too dangerous for him to continue. Despite the setback, he continued with the trekking back at base, successfully completing the twenty four hour challenge, and achieving a full loop of the peaks in under twelve hours. That feat alone is one that most people struggle to do with fresh legs, let alone after one hundred hours of activity and no sleep.

Chatting with Les in the small hours of Friday, Sip explained the problems he faced and spoke candidly about the experience. "This is the third time I’ve done the Yorkshire Three Peaks within the same month, and the problem with being awake for so long, is that we knew my legs would swell up. This caused some pretty bad blistering on my feet. I was very lucky that Les was there, did all the doctor work and took the stuff out of those blisters. I’m now in a position where I can actually walk, but three hours ago it was a very different story. What I want to do now, is I want to finish this day off until 12 o’clock like I said I would do. I would have loved to have done the Three Peaks and gone round there twice, but it just physically wasn’t possible. What I didn’t want to do is risk not being able to today, the abseil, and day seven, the run around this airfield."

During the chat, Les responded honestly to a question from Sip about the effects of the challenge on him. "If I’m completely honest, last night worried me to some degree. Not only have I noticed the physical bits, but I think you’ve just massively understated the blister situation on your feet. I spent probably over an hour last night taking care of your feet, redressing them so you can walk. I just want everyone to know that, the amount of pain you’re in. I know you’re putting a brave face on here and that you’re in an awful lot of pain. I’ve also started to notice the other effects of fatigue on you now. Your eyes were all over the place when I was talking to you. Some of the bits you’re saying are now starting to not make sense, on occasion. So, I’m really noticing that now to be honest. I genuinely can’t believe how you’re still cracking on."

Sip, a long serving and well respected Major in the armed forces, is putting his heart and soul into this challenge, and although he puts on a brave face and battles on, the support team around him know and appreciate the level of pain he is going through. This was expected and integral to the message of this challenge, to raise awareness that serving personnel and veterans do go through similar challenges each and every day, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, fatigue, physical trauma, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Sip’s pain is nothing compared to what those people go through, suffering in silence. Watch the full chat from today below, learn more about the event as a whole, and please help us to raise awareness for a worthy charity. Your support really will make a difference.