Our heroes this week are the Everest on Mt Coolum trekkers who completed their challenge on the weekend and have raised $10,755. Originally planned as a trip to Nepal to climb Everest Base Camp, the team put their plans aside due to Coronavirus and instead sought a new challenge – the climb the same distance in their own locations and on Mt Coolum.

That meant climbing Mt Coolum 8 times a day for 5 days! We caught up with team leader Gary to hear about the highlights and challenges of the week.

Who was on the team?

Tina Beard and I did the 42 laps with the following people helping to keep us motivated

Ailsa Mckitterick Gillett, Sarah Sherington, Terri Thomas, Greg Alexander, Kerri Mc Martin, Clair Higgins.

What were the highlights of the challenge?

Highlights of the week were that we did an Interview on the ABC sunshine coast radio on Monday and Friday morning, as well as the local channel 7  on Monday.

We were lucky enough to have had stories in local newspapers, magazines, online articles. we constantly sent out press releases with updates on our progress.

Other highlights were that as we trekked our fundraising continued, after the radio on Monday it spiked and then each day it went up after talking with other people on the mountain, As the week went on we gained a lot of respect when people understood what we were doing and why. And they new how hard it was.

A supporter showed up with fresh water melon and mangos for us which was awesome, another with fruit cake  and coffee. These little things made a big difference to our psyche, as we knew we were not in this alone.

How about the challenges?

The challenges along the way were, the heat and subsequent dehydration issues, lots of sunscreen  wide hats and lots of drinks, our supporters all dressed in Shake It Up Shirts, kept the public informed of what we were doing and why,

The other challenge was getting 3 reps done by about 7am after a 5am start. this ensured that we had a finish time of 12.30pm for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in which we did 9 reps each day.

Thursday we did 8 reps and Friday 7, the last few on Friday were  challenging, it was hot, we were tired, and thankfully Kerri and Clair joined us the help us through. very sore legs, feet, hips, sunburnt, but very happy to have gotten through, the last few reps really were a trudge

Difficulties were a lot of fatigue, muscle soreness, and keeping up our hydration.

We took each day as a goal, rather than look at the 42 and be freaked out, so today we have 9 or 8 or the last day at 7, we kept moving knowing that each step got us closer to the end

Congratulations again to the Everest on Mt Coolum team and supporters! We are so grateful for your support. The funds you’ve raised will make a big difference towards better treatments for Parkinson’s.

Could you challenge yourself for Parkinson’s? Find out more today.