Event Guidelines

Fundraising target

The 2009 6 Peaks Challenge aims to raise in the region of £200,000 to help WaterAid help some of the world's poorest communities gain access to safe water, basic sanitation and hygiene education. It costs just £15 for WaterAid to provide one person with safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. Your participation in the Challenge will be changing many lives forever.

WaterAid asks that each team member raises a minimum of £500 in sponsorship, and will be with you every step of the way to make your fundraising and event planning as easy as possible. With our fundraising top tips and online sponsorship you will be surprised how easy fundraising becomes...

Entry fee

To ensure that every penny raised directly benefits WaterAid, all team members pay an entry fee to take part in the 6 Peaks Challenge. £280 per person pays for event costs including all ferry crossings, accommodation and the celebratory reception at the end of the Challenge. Your team will be required to pay the entry fee to confirm your entry in the Challenge. The closing date for entries is 30 April 2009, but we would need to know that you intend to take part by March 10.

The team and its leader

Each team must have an experienced mountain walker as their leader. This person will be responsible for guiding the team to the summit of each of the challenge mountains, in accordance with safe hill walking practice and within the agreed procedures of the challenge. Each team should also identify a competent assistant who is adept at navigation and is capable of assuming responsibility for the team should the need arise.

For safety reasons each team needs to have a minimum of three walkers and two drivers. Teams should have a maximum of eight members in total. If teams are hiring or borrowing vehicles your drivers may have to be aged 25+ to comply with insurance requirements.

Essentials

Our experience has shown that a walker will be fit enough to take part in the challenge if they can manage a cross-country hike of 20-25 miles which takes in four or five decent-sized hills, all within 10 hours.

The team leader will need to ensure the level of fitness of each team member is adequate and check the equipment and clothing of the team are satisfactory, bearing in mind the swift weather changes that can occur at any time in the mountains. All walkers must be suitably equipped to deal with the vagaries of the climate expected. Two things are essential – a decent (well-worn) pair of boots and plenty of hill-walking experience.

Remember to get your feet, knees and ankles acclimatised by walking in the hills and mountains. A treadmill or step machine is no match for the rocky twists and turns of a mountain path.

Don't overdo it in training, save your best for the challenge and if in doubt seek medical advice.

How to enter

To enter the challenge you will need to fill out an online registration form.

The application form records various essential details about the team and these criteria may be used as part of a screening process. The final decision on whether or not a team participates in the challenge will rest with the organisers.

If you have any queries prior to entering the Challenge, please email 6peaks@wateraid.org or call 0845 120 1293.

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Vehicles

It is the team's responsibility to equip themselves with a suitable vehicle and supply it with fuel. Past experience has shown that the best vehicle to use is an 11 or 12 seater minibus. People carrier-sized vehicles are too small and cramped and you will waste a lot of time packing and unpacking a smaller vehicle before and after each peak. The team should ensure that their vehicle is roadworthy and covered by adequate motor insurance. This insurance should cover accident and repair/recovery assistance and needs to include Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

If a sponsor has supplied a vehicle remember to check the details with them. You will need documents giving you permission to take the vehicle abroad and an insurance ‘Green Form'. If you are hiring a vehicle you must mention that you will be taking it to Ireland as some hire companies won't let you. Also check the age of your drivers - it is almost impossible to get anyone under the age of 25 insured to drive a hired minibus or van.

The team leader must ensure that drivers are fully briefed on the route to be driven (printed routes, maps and a driver's briefing will be provided) and made aware of the need to share the driving and resting in shifts so that neither driver becomes dangerously fatigued. If necessary share the task of en-route navigation around the team of walkers and allow the ‘off-duty' driver to rest in the back of the vehicle.

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Drivers

It should be noted that the drivers are an integral part of the team and in the past teams have dropped out at the last minute as a result of not having drivers. Potential drivers should be aware that if they passed their driving test after 1997, they will need to take a special driving test in order to drive a minibus. They will also need to be over 25 to get insurance if hiring a vehicle.

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Mountains, maps and further reading

Teams will be provided with maps for all 6 peaks shortly before the weekend of the challenge

There are many books that can help you get to know more about the challenge mountains, here are couple of suggestions

‘The High Mountains of Britain and Ireland a Guide for Mountain Walkers', by Irvine Butterfield

‘Safety on Mountains – An Approach to Mountain Adventure for Beginners', booklet and video, published by the British Mountaineering Council, which contains advice on safety aspects of hill walking.

If you can only visit and practice the navigation and ascent of just one of the six challenge mountains we suggest you take on Scafell Pike on a good clear day.

You are advised to prepare well in advance, studying directions and routes to and from the summit. It is important that all the team members understand the plans. Should you wish to obtain copies of 1:25,000 scale maps for these areas, the relevant published maps (all priced less than £10) are:

• Snaefell: Isle of Man Public Rights of Way and Outdoor Leisure Map, North and South sheets
• Snowdon : OS - Explorer series, sheet no. 17, Snowdonia - Snowdon and Conwy Valley Area
• Scafell Pike : OS - Explorer series, sheet nos. 4 and 6, The English Lakes - NW and SW Areas
• Ben Nevis : OS - Explorer series, sheet no. 38, Ben Nevis and Glen Coe
• Slieve Donard: OS Northern Ireland - Mourne Country, Outdoor Pursuits Map
• Corran Tuathail: OS Ireland - MacGillycuddy's Reeks (or 1:50,000 Discovery Series sheet no. 78 - Kerry)

The challenge takes the most obvious ‘tourist path' to the top of each peak. The exception is Scafell Pike where our route from Seathwaite in Borrowdale reaches the summit via the base of Great End, then Esk Hause, Calf Cove, Ill Crag and Broad Crag. However, teams will also need to carry, and be experienced in using, a compass as a navigational tool in conjunction with map reading skills.

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Audit

Each team is trusted to report when (or if) each team member reaches each summit during the challenge. The Challenge employs professional mountain guides who will also be on the mountain summits to check on your team's progress.

Official completion certificates will be sent out a short time after the challenge.

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IOF Code of Practice and the environmental impact

WaterAid takes our responsibilities on the potential environment impact of our challenge events very seriously, ensuring through a number of measures that our events more than comply with the Institute of Fundraising (IOF) Code of Fundraising Practice - Outdoor Fundraising Events and guidelines for outdoor, land-based fundraising events in the UK available at http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/ ). At the very least every participant must respect the mountain environment and follow the Country Code.

In line with IOF guidelines the 6 Peaks Challenge climbs Scaffell Pike via Seathwaite and not Wasdale. When 6 Peaks originally happened - on a very small scale - it was climbed from Wasdale but since the event has expanded we have taken appropriate advice and changed the route.

We also restrict the entries to 200 walkers on the hill, max, also as per IOF guidelines. We have yet to reach 200 entries, the maximum number we've had taking part in the challenge is 118.

At no stage do we ever put time pressures into the Challenge which might encourage or influence drivers to go too quickly. In fact the 6 Peaks Challenge has minimum driving times between peaks - you can't drive quickly to make up time because your walkers are slow. This is part of our safety policy for the event.

In addition the 6 Peaks Challenge donates a percentage of the proceeds into local environmental projects, particularly focusing on the upkeep and repair of footpaths, and to mountain rescue teams in the areas where the challenges take place.

Of the money you raise 97% will be given to WaterAid, 2% will go towards projects in the environment around our challenge mountains and 1% will be donated to the local volunteer mountain rescue teams.

6 Peaks goes carbon neutral

This year the carbon emissions from the 6 Peaks event will be off-set by a donation to Climate Care. The carbon footprint will be calculated for each vehicle taking part for total miles travelled. Based on this figure a donation will then be made to Climate Care. Climate Care was set up to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It does this by offsetting - making CO2 reductions on behalf of individuals and companies and funding energy sustainable projects - for more information visit their website.

WaterAid therefore makes every effort to ensure that our impact on the environment is minimised, whilst running a safe and enjoyable team event which raises a lot of money for our vital work.

If you have any comments or would like further information on other mountain challenge events, please email 6peaks@wateraid.org.

The 2009 6 Peaks Challenge will be a carbon neutral event.