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Staff from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) Lochgilphead office took to the hills in June for WaterAid’s 2003 Munro Challenge and managed to raise a whooping £820.
One team of nine walkers scaled the heights of Ben Starav in Glen Etive to raise funds for WaterAid, the UK’s only major charity dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education of the world’s poorest peoples. In total 17 SEPA teams from offices throughout Scotland participated in the event.
The WaterAid Munro Challenge 2003 set a total fundraising target of £ 250,000 for the provision of WaterAid funded projects in Nepal and Ethiopia. It also attempted to set a new world record by putting a team on top off all 303 mountains over 3,000 feet in the British Isles. In all, an estimated 5 000 people took to the hills. The Challenge will be audited for a world first in the Guinness Book of Records.
Ronnie Robinson, the organiser of the Lochgilphead team said:
“Everyone had a great time, although exhausting, but all the effort was worth it for such a good cause. Hopefully our money will go a long way to providing clean water supplies to villages in Nepal and Ethiopia - something we all take for granted and flush away all so readily, but which is a life line to those who need it.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
WaterAid has given much consideration to mitigating environmental impacts of the challenge and allows no more than 3 teams on any hill, enforces strict codes of conduct for participants and ensures that 2% of all money raised goes to charities involved with conservation of hill land.
Contact
Joanna Gardiner, 01355 274226, 07767 325226
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