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Seraphina's Arctic Challenge
At the end of last month our ever adventurous Reservations Manager, Seraphina, completed an Arctic marathon on skis to help raise thousands of pounds for a breast cancer charity. Here she is at the end of the epic challenge (pictured centre in a purple jacket).
Organised by Walk the Walk Charity, more normally associated with moon walks in funky pink bras, the marathon took place in the frozen far north of Sweden. Along with her sister and a friend, Seraphina joined a group of 19 women, most of whom had never done any cross country skiing before, let alone a marathon. To prepare for the gruelling event, Seraphina was in training for 6 months and we can attest to her commitment to the gym and daily lunchtime walks up our local Cotswold hills.
Having arrived in northern Sweden, the chilly temperatures ranged from -33 to a relatively balmy -20 degrees centigrade - definitely not the temperatures for wearing funky bras!! From their base in a remote hut, with no running water or electricity, the women spent a day getting used to their skis and the freezing conditions before heading out into the snowy wilderness and skiing for 26 and a bit miles, over two days, to reach the end point near Abisko. The total time to complete the marathon was 16 exhausting hours.
Totally shattered, but thrilled to have successfully completed the challenge, the ladies celebrated with a night at an ice hotel and a ride in a husky sled back to the airport.
Seraphina, along with her sister and friend, raised a very impressive £5,200 for their efforts whilst the group as a whole raised a whopping £47,000, all of which goes towards vital breast cancer causes. Huge congratulations go to Seraphina from all of us at Mountain Kingdoms and we look forward to seeing her competing at the next winter Olympics!
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