It's been a while...

Wow! Has it really been over a year since I last updated the blog? Makes you wonder where the time goes.

Once the Three Peaks challenge last year was wrapped up Simon & I returned our focus towards work and family commitments and before you know it 2011 was upon us.

After looking for something new to try for 2011 I decided to try my hand at wild camping and have spent a few cold nights lost in the hills Snowdonia with some friends and a tiny tent having lugged everything up there in a back pack big enough to live in. The whole experience is very surreal and leaves you feeling incredibly isolated and relaxed at night knowing there is nobody for miles as you hunker down in your sleeping bag for the night. I will no doubt be returning towards the down a bit as I prefer to do this sort of pastime when it's a bit cooler and quieter.

The remaining free time this year so far has been spent cycling as I train for couple of events I have entered in September before the cycling season moves back over to cyclo cross for the winter. The summer so far has been mixed but we have been gifted a lot of pleasant evening meaning I have enjoyed mostly dry weather training till now which is always a bonus. Other than that I suppose it's a case of see what the rest of 2011 brings in the way of family, friends and of course work and keep enjoying the sunshine.

Thanks for reading,

Martin

The Three peaks report...

The Three peaks is done finish time was 22h14m11s but there were many complications. Simon, Steve and myself started up Ben Nevis at 15:57 on Friday 18th after nearly 8 hours of travelling. It was 28C in the shade at the base of Ben Nevis and the weather was great, shortly into Ben Nevis's youth hostel trail which meets the tourist track Simon who has been struggling with a virus this week had severe chest pains and had to return to base leaving Steve and I on the challenge. As it was so hot I was drinking a lot more than usual and as a result I ran out of fluids just under 1 hour before I got down Ben Nevis which meant I was dehydrating on the way down and started to get dizzy. All in Steve & I cleared Ben Nevis in 4h:29m:23s. Upon getting back into the car I began to feel worse with the windy Scottish roads and started to become really sick. We carried on into the night and was on our way to Scarfell Pike but 2 1/2 miles before we got there I began to be violently sick several times, this then meant Steve was our only healthy team member as I began my personal Three Pukes Challenge before getting about an hour - two of sleep in the car. Steve went up Scafell in the dark solo!!! He stormed it and got back incredibly quickly so we set off for Mt Snowdon in the morning sun.

I was still suffering quite badly with the dehydration/travel sickness combo so we had to shuffle the team about a little and Mick (driver) wanted to do Snowdon so he would be Steve's wingman on this section. Simon took over driving as we dropped Steve and Mick off at Pen-Y-Pass and headed off to park. Once we had parked up we then proceeded to eat Micks bacon for him as I hadn't eaten in over 12 hours and contacted Steve when he was at the top of Snowdon to get an ETA for his return. I then was dropped back off at the car park they had left from and headed up the track with extra drinks to meet Steve and record his finish time as I had started the timing at Ben Nevis on my Garmin. Steve completed the challenge in 22h14m11s which he was ecstatic with and very tired so I left him resting at the carpark and I then headed back up to find Mick who was a bit further behind and see him home whilst raising Simon on the radio to come and collect us. We then headed off to Betws-Y-Coed for a celebratory meal in cafe and at the 24 hour mark we had already eaten and were about to leave the cafe.

Even though things didn't go exactly as planned on the weekend despite months of preparation Steve was able to complete complete all three mountains and the challenge in a very respectable time.

On a whole the team work was excellent and we supported each other throughout the highs & lows of the event and raised more than we expected to for a great charity whilst having fun. I would like to thank everyone who has donated and help support this challenge I am sorry I personally couldn't complete all three mountains but I still had a great experience whilst enjoying time with good friends.

Thanks

Martin, Simon & the rest of the team

Less than one week till the Three Peaks!

 Wow! This has came around quicker than I expected and by this time next week we should be on our way up Ben Nevis. Training has gone well personally the only problem was a footwear malfunction which cost me a lot of skin after a training walk on Long Mynd causing me to take a few weeks off whilst I healed. The rest of the team have been training hard too at all sorts of unusual time of day and night as fitting things around work & family life can be tricky at times.  

 There was a bit of drama yesterday when Edmunson's car that is being used for the event broke down following an alternator failure that was recently replaced. I am told the car is back on the road now and is also getting some new rubber on Monday so hopefully that is an end to any problems. The good news is the fund raising has gone very well with us currently standing at £428 out of our £500 target raised. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated to this event and a huge thanks to Weston Hall for donating the prize and Edmunson's Electrical for providing us with wheels and a driver. 

 Finally if you haven't yet donated and would like to do so please visit http://www.justgiving.com/csfire and if you would like to enter the finish time contest please ensure your entry is with me by Thursday night.

 Thanks,

Martin

Three Peaks Challenge update

Things on this blog have been quiet for a while as Simon & I have been very busy both at work and at home too. I am happy to announce I now have two children following the early arrival of my Daughter Hannah May on the 6th of April. She was born weighing just 4lbs 3oz taking my clan up to one of each. I thought it would be a good time for an update on our Three Peaks event in aid of NACCPO as we are just over 5 weeks out now and the training for this has been going pretty well for the whole team although we haven't had time to do any training as a team which is something that needs sorting before the event. Now the light nights are here I have been out cycling and mountain biking a lot which carries over well to hiking whilst not eating up too much of my time & Simon has been out running, cycling and hiking when he has some free time too. I did manage to get in a fairly epic hike up Mt. Snowdon on the bank holiday Monday too with Steve from Modern Stlying Ltd.

Anyway yesterday we had our photos taken for the official press release at Weston Hall & there is a very good chance you may see our ugly mugs in several local papers over the next week or so looking a bit like the picture I have attached to this post which features Simon & Myself along with Racheal Olley from NACCPO in the centre, Steve from Modern Styling Bottom right, Mike Feist & Mick Maddox of Edmunsons Electrical fame centre top & Trevor Nichols owner of Weston Hall top right in front of Weston Hall with a badly parked van in the way.

Fund raising is going OK so far with £70 raised and of course the guesses are coming in for our finish time competition. To qualify for a meal for two at Weston Hall including a bottle of bubble all you have to do is donate £5 or more to the challenge and let me know your finishing time guess. The closest to the time taken to complete the entire challenge wins. Our target is to raise £500 at the moment and any donation of any size will be a huge help to the charity. http://www.justgiving.com/csfire is the link to our just giving page donating is both easy and secure from this site.

If I don't get time to update before the event Simon & I would like to thank everyone that has donated so far and if you are planning on donating be sure to do so and get your entry to the finish time contest in.

Announcing the Three Peaks Challenge 2010 in aid of NACCPO

As you may remember last August we supported Peter Nadin the 24 hour race S.I.T.S. Peter raised over £3300 for the Donna Louise trust through his efforts which is fantastic and we would like to thank everyone who helped make this possible by donating towards this. Now it's our turn to get down and dirty...

On the 18th June 2010 a team of 3 walkers and 1 driver will attempt the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of NACCPO, this challenge consists of walking up and down the highest mountain peak in England, Scotland and Wales in under 24 hours and this also includes the time spent driving from each peak to the next ! We will start the challenge at the base of Ben Nevis in the afternoon and intend to tackle the climbs in the following order

Ben Nevis (Scotland) 4409ft/1344m
Scafell Pike (England) 3209ft/978m
Snowdon (Wales) 3560ft/1085m

That's over 11,000ft/3km of climbing and descending with 26+ miles of walking and about 500 miles of driving in under 24 hours! This challenge includes driving through the night and also some of the climbing & descending being undertaken in darkness using head torches to light the way.

The team shall consist of Simon & Myself from C.S. Fire Ltd. along with Steve "O'Kenivel" Nixon from a company called Modern Styling Ltd. (the people behind our vehicle liveries and logo they specialise in all kinds of printing and Graphics and can be contacted on 01785 241626)
This event will be powered by Edmunsons Electrical, Stafford who are kindly providing us with a car and Mick "Mad dog" Maddox as a driver for the challenge, he will be undertaking the round trip from Stafford to Ben Nevis and back home afterward Snowdonis done and dusted. We are doing this to raise money and awareness for

The National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations (NACCPO)

This is a charity that supports families of children and adolescents with cancer and leukaemia from anywhere in the UK. NACCPOhelps to ease the desolation that families feel when their child is diagnosed with cancer through a network of support groups . The charity provides advice and information on all aspects of childhood cancer visithttp://naccpo.org.uk for more information.

C.S. Fire & Security, Modern Styling and Edmunsons Electrical will be funding the challenge and relying on the generosity of our friends, families and customers to help us raise as much money as possible for NACCPO in the process. Donating is easy, you can do so by visiting our Just giving page http://www.justgiving.com/csfire to make a donation (you can even do it anonymously if your shy). Also if you are UK Tax payer please be sure to claim gift aid on any donation as this makes a nice difference to the sum you donate courtesy of the taxman :) You can also send/give donations to us directly as an offline donation if you like.

If that wasn't reason enough to donate to our challenge how about the chance to win a meal for two at Weston Hall near Stafford! Anyone who donates £5 or more can enter our guess the finish time contest for a chance to win this prize at this excellent hotel which specialises in fine dining in a stunning location for more details visithttp://www.westonhall.co.uk please submit your time in HH:MM:SS format with you email address in the comments box and the winner shall be the person who picks the exact or guesses closest to our completion time.

I have attached a picture of Myself with Simon and Steve out over Cannock Chase doing a bit of night hiking to show you how hardcore we are and you can follow this event here in our Blog as we shall be keeping updates of our progress as we train for this over the coming months.

We do a lot of work for charidee mates.....

Just a teaser to inform any blog fans that your favourite fire alarm fixers are currently in the planning and training stages for an upcoming challenge that we will be doing for a very good cause. E.T.A June 2010

watch this space....

Highlights of 2009 (with gross pic)

A short update to wrap up the year as I have been a bit short of things to blog lately.

On the whole 2009 has been a very busy year which has really kept us on our toes at work and on a personal side of things I was busy too. I managed to take both of my hobbies a bit more seriously entering a few cycle races towards the end of the season and with my photography being an official photographer at a few events and selling some of my shots also.

The greatest achievement of 2009 was without a doubt Simon's DIY slip at home leading to a hospital visit and a full page report in NUTS magazine making him infamous on a national scale.

Luckily the fame has not gone to his head!

Happy new year everyone! On to a prosperous 2010 from all at C.S. Fire :)