Three peaks in 24 hours – and it’s all for Puttinu
James Wilford Caruana will attempt to climb Britain’s three highest peaks in 24 hours in aid of Puttinu Cares, no mean feat for the Maltese national who describes himself as a “belowaverage squash player” in terms of fitness.
Caruana, a 24-year-old biomedical engineering PhD candidate living in the UK, will be attempting the challenge alongside his friend Ira Wall.
Together they plan to scale Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell
Pike in England and Snowden in Wales in just one day on May 5.
It was Wall who has been trying to convince Caruana to attempt the challenge together for a while since they both studied at the University of Nottingham.
And even though he was interested, he felt he did not have a reason to push himself. That was until Caruana’s grandmother and Wall’s grandfather passed away in January.
Caruana’s late grandmother, Therese Muscat, was a strong supporter of Puttinu Cares and she would constantly pledge any money to the NGO which supports children with cancer. Therefore, doing the challenge in aid of Puttinu felt like a fitting way to pay their respects.
The two will begin early in the morning of May 4 by attempting to climb 1,345 metres up Ben Nevis. Once completed, they will have approximately a five-hour drive to attempt the 978-metre climb of Scafell Pike in England. After they scale Scafell in the afternoon, they will drive for approximately four hours and arrive in the evening at their final destination, for the 1,085-metre climb up Snowden.
They plan to complete the challenge by the morning of May 5. Their friends will help them with the driving and restocking of supplies throughout.
Asked about their training regime, Caruana said, “in terms of regular exercise, I am a below average squash player and Ira is an above average rock climber. But I have always enjoyed climbing and trekking. I used to be a scout with St Aloysius College for a number of years. For the challenge we are currently focusing on lots of circuit training, attempting practice peaks as well as some navigation training at night.” The pair are attempting a practise run of Snowden and Scafell in the coming weeks but unfortunately do not have the opportunity to do the same with Ben Nevis. Caruana has already successfully climbed Scafell in September and Wall previously conquered the Yorkshire Peaks challenge.
Caruana hopes that the unique nature of the challenge will encourage more people locally to donate to the charity. And he hopes the UK challenge will was also help spread awareness about Puttinu Cares to the British public.