Barnesy's First Blog - AXA Wealth Climb

A really early start marked the start of the AXA Wealth Climb yesterday morning. An earlier decision to join up with four members of the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) in their Abingdon barracks, in order to reduce the travel time to Heathrow, proved to be a false economy.

It was 2:30am when the alarms went off and we jumped into the minibus to avoid the traffic, which according to one of the senior officers was a serious danger at that time of the morning. Surprisingly there were no hold ups on the way and we arrived bright and early at Heathrow. Soon more and more of the distinctive blue fleeces of the AXA Wealth Climb appeared and the group was starting to come together.

It was at Amsterdam airport where the full compliment of the 41 people taking on the climb met each other for the first time, after different members of the party flew in from various regional airports. There is a huge variety in the age of the group (18-66), experience, fitness level and background.

We have 3 different people taking on the challenge to mark their 50th Birthday. There is also a recently married couple who are on their honeymoon, 4 serving soldiers, 3 fathers and daughters along with people from various other backgrounds; it promises to be a great opportunity to create new friendships and share a special experience. We all know that it will be these nearly formed friendships which will be so vitally important when the going gets tough later in the week once we start the climb and while everyone will have their low points we will help each other through.

After a long day of travelling, we finally arrived in Arusha, the city closest to Kilimanjaro. It was a very pleasant surprise to be greeted by David Squire, the man behind the superb trekking company Team Kilimanjaro, who has travelled out here to personally ensure we all have an experience to remember.

Moral is high as Mark Regan, after watching Spongebob Squarepants on continuous loop for 8 hours on the plane, has proudly announced that this is his first trip to the Himalayas… no one has the heart to tell him he is a few thousand miles out.

For the majority of the party it will be a day of rest today but for a few, however, we are heading off to the local schools to introduce rugby to some of the local children.

While every person joining the AXA Wealth Climb is taking on a personal and physical challenge, they are all supporting charitable causes. Every person who has taken a place has paid their own fare thus allowing all the money raised to be donated to charities.

The AXA Wealth Climb is primarily supporting three charities: Help for Heroes, the RPA Benevolent Fund and the RFU Injured Players’ Foundation.

Many people on this trip have an association with rugby, be it as a player, a sponsor or a supporter and understand that whilst many players will play many enjoyable years there are a few who are unfortunate to suffer serious injury. When that injury does occur the Rugby community are quick to rally round and support that player. We are extremely proud to be representing two such charities, which support the player, and from my own rugby background, I am climbing in aid of the RPA Benevolent Fund.

Please donate by visiting www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/axawealthclimb or by texting the word climb to70050 to donate £1.50 +usual message rate. 100% of all donations go directly to the charities.