Tom’s in peak fitness for jaunt up UK’s tallest mountain – twice in one day

Tom Conlon (51) is taking on the challenge along with friends to raise money for the Marie Curie centre at Huntershill.

Tom’s family has been hard hit by cancer and he wants to give a boost to people who work with the victims of the disease and their families.

He will undertake the double Ben Nevis climb on Friday, June 29, along with two friends, Graham Boyle (44), from Beith, and Andrew Wood (23), from Mauchline, both Ayrshire.

Tom said: “When cancer hits familes it hits very hard indeed. I decided I would like to do something for the people who help in these very difficult situations.

“I was introduced to more serious walking by Graham Boyle and the idea of doing Ben Nevis twice in a day really started out as a joke. After we went up and down he would say ‘I could do that again’.

“So I decided to take him at his word and challenged him to actually do it.”

Tom and Graham work in the custodial services division of Serco, carrying out electronic monitoring of offenders. They are based in East Kilbride and Tom has been training with walks from there to his home in Bishopbriggs, a distance of just under 18 miles, in about four hours.

He plans to complete that route a few more times before his challenging trip to Fort William.

The group will be joined by another Serco employee, Kevin Beck, for the second of the two ascents of the Ben.

Tom said he would like to thank his daughter Lynsey (20), who has just graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University, for her help with organising the venture and setting up a web page.

You can support Tom’s effort for the Marie Curie Hospice by visiting the web page – www.justgiving.com/Tom-Conlon0

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