A WREXHAM woman conquered the height of Mount Everest by running continuous laps of a footpath near her home – raising thousands to help support an air ambulance charity.
On Saturday, August 22, Jo Frost, from Froncysyllte, took on the ‘Everesting’ challenge.
It saw her run 180 laps of a hilly footpath in the village, accumulating more than 8,858.9 metres of elevation – the height of the world’s highest mountain.
“Most sensible people do it on a bike, allowing them to recover a little on the descents,” Jo, aged 45, said. “I decided to do it on foot. This was, in hindsight, the first indication that I may not always make excellent decisions.
“After 18 hours and 54 minutes, I had covered 106.31km and climbed the requisite metres.
"In other words, I had spent nearly 19 hours going up and down the same small hill in a village in North Wales while apparently trying to recreate the Himalayas using one very localised bit of countryside.
“I was raising money for Air Ambulances UK, a cause that is particularly important to me. I know far too many people who have needed an air ambulance, and for whom the support of this precious service is critical.
“Also, given my apparent talent for doing idiotic things, there is every chance I will need one myself one day.”
Jo, who works as a Global Medical Governance Lead for a biotech company, joked: “Although, having spent the latter stages of the challenge hallucinating, falling over and generally losing the ability to remember basic biological requirements such as eating and drinking, I suspect the air ambulance crew would have had a fairly low opinion of me if they had actually been called.
“Thankfully, I only fell over once which, for me, is frankly miraculous and crucially, I did not require an air ambulance.”
Jo said that she hadn't eaten “nearly enough” and by the end her brain had “entered a different dimension”.
“I was hallucinating sufficiently that the trail was becoming an increasingly surreal place,” she said.
“I eventually finished, staggered home and managed approximately an hour and a half of sleep afterwards.
“My body, apparently, had decided that was quite enough recovery time.
“Oddly enough, my body now disagrees with its earlier assessment and walking downstairs is currently an activity requiring considerable planning and emotional preparation.
“But none of that is remotely comparable to the pain, fear and suffering experienced by the people who actually need air ambulance services — or by their families. That is precisely what made the challenge worthwhile, and why I am so grateful to everyone who supported it.”
People came along to walk and run laps with Jo, cheer her on, and even bring cake and fizz.
“Having company made an enormous difference when the novelty of repeatedly climbing the same hill had worn off somewhere around lap 47,” she said.
“A special mention has to go to my extraordinary husband, Seb, who provided an almost unreasonable amount of practical and moral support throughout
“Quite how he managed to remain cheerful while watching me progressively unravel is a mystery. I suppose he’s had a fair amount of practice at this.
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“To everyone who donated, came along, joined me for a lap, brought food, shouted encouragement — or indeed abuse — thank you. Every bit of it helped.”
Jo managed to raise over £2,600 for Air Ambulance UK – which supports the UK’s 21 air ambulance charities, helping fund their lifesaving work and supporting improvements in patient care.
The fundraising page remains active and be accessed via https://shorturl.at/3y7zY
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