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The 75 Royal Engineers 107 Field Squadron from Birkenhead participated at Chill Factore.
A team of soldiers from across the Northwest England skied the distance from Camp Bastion to Kandahar in Afghanistan last month to raise funds for their wounded colleagues.
The event, held at Manchester’s Chill Factore indoor snow centre, saw the group of eight servicemen and women ski a joint total of 225 km (140mi), with each member completing 215 runs of the main slope. At 180m (590ft), it is the longest indoor real snow slope in the country and the challenge took over ten hours to complete. The team, from the 75 Royal Engineers 107 Field Squadron in Birkenhead, wore 10kg bergans throughout the event.
The money raised was donated to Help for Heroes, which supports wounded servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK) also benefited from the event. The charity gives people with disabilities access to snowsports and has its northern headquarters at Chill Factore.
Ryan Turner, a 27-year-old sapper/combat engineer from Wythenshawe, organized the event.
“As someone in the military, the work of charities that support injured soldiers is close to my heart,” said Turner. “Earlier in the year I completed the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the Army Benevolent Fund, and I then decided I wanted to do something for Help for Heroes.”
“I’m a keen skier so an event at Chill Factore sprang to mind immediately. I came across the work of Disability Snowsport UK whilst setting up the event and was immediately impressed by the work of adaptive ski schools such as the one at Chill Factore. I’m really pleased that the other members of my unit took part in the challenge with me. I’d encourage everyone to do all they can to raise money for these amazing causes.”
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