Alison and her Adventurers - Kilimanjaro Climb 2011

In September 2011, John Rawson, one of our regular supporters, travelled with a team of 9 friends to Tanzania in Africa to take on the charity challenge of a lifetime, by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet above sea level, all in aid of Cerebral Palsy Sport. John had previously raised funds for the charity by running the Lincoln 10K in 2010 and 2011, and as that wasn't enough, he not only chose to fundraise for CP Sport again this time but also rallied his team to fundraise for us too! The amazing fundraising result of their outstanding efforts was a total of £2,160 raised for CP Sport. It is very rare that the charity receives donations of this size from individuals, but it just goes to show the power of group fundraising and training to take on such an awe-inspiring adventure. Once he'd recovered from his trip, John took time to write to us all about the trip and you can read it yourself, below. His friend Peter took a range of stunning photos of the trip and you can see a few of them below too.

"In September, 10 of us set off on our quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. At 5895 metres, it is the highest free standing mountain in the world. The trek takes in 5 climatic zones, the rain forest, the heath zone, moorland, alpine desert and the arctic region. There are several different routes available, but we chose the 8 day Lemosho route, which started at 2424 metres. There were two advantages to this route. Firstly, it gave us extra time to acclimatise to the altitude and, secondly, being a less popular route, it gave us 3 days when we virtually had the mountain to ourselves, which wouldn't have been the case on the more popular routes.

The 10 of us were split into 2 groups of 5 and each group had a support team of 16 porters, who carried our tents, food and luggage, served our meals and collected our water from streams and purified it, a chef, who prepared excellent food, 2 assistant guides and a senior guide, who walked with us. We each had a 15kg luggage limit, which included our sleeping bag, which the porters carried. Our daily rucksack carried by ourselves contained 4 litres of water, a first aid kit, snacks extra clothing, cameras and medicines and sunscreen.

All 10 of the group made it to the summit with 7 of us hardly suffering at all. Although the other 3 did have problems, they still achieved their aim. If you're fit and fancy a challenge, I recommend the experience and don't worry about your age, as 6 of us were over 50!"

Thanks so much to John and all the team, who were known as Alison and her Adventurers - Alison, Carol , Sue, John, Peter, Richard, Marie, Matt, Kim & Sarah.

Charity challenges are a fantastic way to experience the wonders of the world, push your limits and at the same time raise much needed funds for CP Sport. If you'd like to find out more, please contact Jo or Marianne at fundraising@cpsport.org.