Action Coaches, their clients and friends completed their annual fundraising challenge on the hottest weekend of the year so far – this year the Yorkshire Three Peaks. In December 2018, beloved Action Coach Kent Rhodes lost his brave fight against cancer and since then the ActionCOACH community has taken on a challenge every year to raise funds for Children with Cancer UK and the ActionCOACH Foundation.
A team of 46 climbers took part in the challenge pushing everyone to their limits thanks to the 27-degree heat! But in usual ActionCOACH style, a huge amount of teamwork helped everyone achieve their best on the 24-mile route with 1,585 metres of ascent – all within a 12-hour time limit.
This year’s team leader, franchise partner Alan Smith from Edinburgh, explained, “A huge thanks must go to everyone involved in the support team for this challenge. They followed us with a tuck van offering food, water and bundles of encouragement. They also arranged our evening rest and recharge in a local village where we shared stories, laughed and had a little drink to celebrate our achievement.”
Kent Rhodes was known and respected in the franchise community for his abundant and challenging nature, and he left a legacy beyond his incredible work as a franchise partner. To honour Kent's life, each year the ActionCOACH UK community embarks on a challenge which reflects those traits, whilst doing as much as they can to help those less fortunate than themselves. Last weekend’s challenge has surpassed their £20,000 target taking the total raised so far to over £97,000 since 2019.
“Unfortunately, there are still too many parents each day who hear the dreaded news about their child having cancer. If our efforts can help to reduce this number, then we would have done Kent proud. Kent always wanted to give his all to make a difference to his clients and his community, and the fact we can continue to be inspired by his impact in even a small way through our yearly event is the least we can do,” said Ian Christelow, ActionCOACH UK, Co-Founder.
The team has already started planning the 2023 Kent Rhodes Challenge – climbing the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon. “There really is no better way to build team spirit and camaraderie than joining the Challenge. How many other times do you get to spend quality time genuinely getting to know your team mates? Great chat, fresh air, exercise, loads of fun and raising a lot of cash for worthwhile causes - what else could be better than that? 2024 will be the year we smash the £100k fundraising target,” added Alan.