Three Bishop Auckland Businessmen completed the challenge of a lifetime earlier this month, when they reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Steve Coulthard of Coulthards Motor Factors, Graham Sheldon of Etheringtons Newsagents, and Marc Borley from One Planet Solar, set off for Tanzania on Thursday 5th February to tackle the highest free standing mountain in the world at 5,895 metres.
The trio first visited a COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas) Project in Moshi, to see first hand where part of the funds they were raising were headed. They also handed out gifts to the children, along with Bishop Auckland St Mary’s Junior shirts.
They then set off on their charity trek on 8th February, climbing for five days and camping on the mountain. They finally reached the summit at 6am on Friday 13th February – just in time to see the sun rise and an amazing view.
With temperatures at -20 degrees, it wasn’t long before they made their two day descent back down, where they were greeted by COCO charity leaders for helping to raise over £10,000 for their very worthwhile projects.
One of the climbers, Steve Coulthard commented, “All three of us made it to the very summit of the mountain, Uhuru Peak, overcoming altitude and mountain sickness on the way to beat the 70% average success rate. But it was worth every step, with some of the money raised stopping locally for the St Mary’s Juniors.”
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
