31/08/2026
After a week of recovery, our Site Assistant, Ian Pukie Spriggs can justifiably look back at his recent monumental fundraising challenge with a real sense of achievement - and relief!
Ian, who undertakes a gruelling fundraiser each year to raise awareness for NSPKU, pushed himself to the limit with this one. In the space of just over 31 hours, he scaled Blencathra 14 times - covering 66.69miles and climbing 29,144 feet. That’s equivalent to the height of Everest! 🌄
During the weekend of 22nd and 23rd August he faced the added difficulty of temperatures up to 35 degrees Celsius.🌡️
💬Ian said: “This has been my toughest challenge. I will never do anything like this again.”
Thankfully, Ian did not face the struggle alone. Along with the unrelenting support from his wife Sharon, many friends and colleagues from William Howard School joined him on ascents, providing encouragement and motivation to keep going. A special mention must go to Year 8 student Louise A, who managed a staggering five laps.
💬Ian acknowledged, “This last week has afforded me the time to reflect on the challenge; to look back at it and to see why it was such a success. The success of completing this challenge was, in my eyes, down to everyone else involved. From when I first mentioned the idea, during it and at the end the whole challenge is a superb advert for goodness. The fact that everyone involved gave up their time to help me is incredible, the efforts of Sharon Spriggs and everyone else at base camp was incredible, the people on Blencathra with me were incredible, the distances and elevation other people covered was incredible.”
He added: “It was a great success for WHS, for camaraderie, for friendship, for strangers coming together. Besides the tiredness, it was just perfect.”
The extreme exertion was made worthwhile by the generous donations given for this small but vital charity. The target of £2000 is close to being attained and donations are still welcome, so if you can help Ian reach this summit,
please visit👉 https://www.justgiving.com/page/ian-spriggs-4
