Senior managers at Trenitalia c2c will be taking time out from work to take on the Three Peaks by Rail challenge in aid of The Railway Children charity.
This challenge is to walk up the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, with a special train taking participants to each one. The three peaks are:
- Snowdon, in Wales (1085 metres)
- Scafell Pike, in England (978 metres)
- Ben Nevis, in Scotland (1345 metres)
Participants will walk a total of 37 kilometres (23 miles), climbing a total of 3064 metres (10,052 feet). This represents double the climb involved in the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, over a similar total walking distance. The total driving distance is 462 miles.
c2c's team includes Managing Director Rob Mullen, Finance Director Phil Leney, Operations and Engineering Director Laura McEwen, Asset Director Ben Martin, Interim Commercial Director Steve Knights, HR Director Donna Thorpe, Customer Experience Director Abu Siddeeq and Business Planning Manager Gary Winstanley.
The team will climb Snowdon on Thursday 15 June, then Scafell Pike on Friday 16 June and Ben Nevis on Saturday 17 June.
Team c2c is taking on the challenge in aid of The Railway Children charity, which provides protection and opportunity for destitute children. Every year, thousands of children across the UK, India and East Africa run away or are compelled to leave home due to poverty, abuse, violence and neglect. The charity believes that it is crucial for it to reach a child before an abuser can, and before they become entrenched in street life. It explains that, “The Railway Children race to get to children before the streets get to them.”
If you would like to donate to team c2c, visit the JustGiving page here.
Examples of what The Railway Children can do with your kind donations:
- £1,080 pays for food, educational materials, toiletries and equipment for one month at one of the charity's shelters in India, which helps up to twenty-five children every day. These children have nowhere safe to sleep and face constant risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. The shelters keep them from danger.
- £500 funds twenty-five hours of one-to-one counselling and therapy for a troubled young person in the UK. The British Transport Police refers children to the charity when police see them as being at risk. Railway Children works with them and their families to make sure they don't put themselves in danger again.
- £340 pays for a mobile classroom to visit hard-to-reach communities in India where children live in poverty and have little if any chance to attend school. This is often their only access to of any form of education.
Rob Mullen, c2c Managing Director, said, “The team here at c2c is committed to our customers and communities; they truly are the lifeblood of our railway. The Railway Children is such an important charity and I'm really proud of my team for being so willing to come together to raise as much money as we can to support the charity and help demonstrate this commitment. This is a real endurance challenge for a cause very close to our hearts.”
