Two friends have raised more than £2,000 for the air ambulance that came to the aid of a young relative, by cycling, kayaking and hiking from Sunderland to Helvellyn.
Ryan Noble, 42, and Ed Jones, 47, travelled from their hometown on Saturday, July 27, and covered a distance of approximately 153km, reaching the top of Helvellyn in 11 hours and 35 minutes.
The pair not only smashed their target time of completing it in under 14 hours but they smashed their fundraising target and have raised £2,303 for the Great North Air Ambulance, which helped Ryan’s nephew Isaac Hoey when he was just six weeks old.
In 2018 Isaac and his parents were having a weekend in the Lake District when he stopped breathing.
As Isaac’s parents administered CPR, paramedics from the North West Ambulance Service and a paramedic and doctor team from GNAAS arrived on scene.
Isaac was administered oxygen by GNAAS’ critical care team before being airlifted to the paediatric intensive care unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where it was revealed that Isaac was suffering from bronchiolitis.
He was put on a ventilator and spent three days in intensive care followed by four days of rest before he was eventually allowed to come home, where he made a good recovery.
Several years later, after being bought a kayak for his 40th birthday, Ryan decided he was going to do a challenge involving cycling and kayaking to raise funds for GNAAS and roped his friend Ed into joining him.
On Saturday the pair cycled nearly 135km over the North Pennines towards Pooley Bridge, taking in around 7,000ft.
Once they arrived in Pooley Bridge they switched to a two-man kayak and paddled along the full length of Ullswater covering around 12km.
After disembarking they hiked 6.5km up to the peak of the famous Helvellyn summit which stands at 3120ft high and completed the challenge more than two hours earlier than planned.
Ryan said: “The conditions for the cycle were pretty testing with a gentle headwind and persistent rain for 75% of it.
“The changeover to get the kayak ready gave us chance to refuel and from there the weather started to improve a little and we managed to really push on finishing the kayak leg well ahead of schedule.
“Again the changeover ready for the hike gave us another chance to fuel and the sun finally came out as we set off up Helvellyn.
“We hadn’t really set out to try and smash the time target we set but obviously we had an eye on times for each leg as we went and as we reached Red Tarn on Helvellyn we obviously knew we were so far inside our schedule, and it gave us a little motivation to really push from there to the finish line.
“Reaching the top of Helvellyn in perfect sunny weather with incredible views was particularly stunning and rewarding.”
Ryan will be keeping his JustGiving page open as he will also be taking part in the Great North Run, alongside Isaac’s parents, in September, in the hopes of raising even more funds for GNAAS.
He said: “It’s always humbling to see people donate so generously especially from people you don’t really anticipate it coming from. Every donation that pings through just adds to the motivation, makes the training seem easier in the tougher weather and stops you from ever wondering why you put yourself through something like this.
“I think the fact GNAAS is entirely funded from donations still surprises and shocks a lot of people so even seeing the engagement with social media posts makes a huge difference even without donations.”
