Tyrone men conquer Ben Nevis for charity

TWO Cookstown men who conquered the summit of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, in memory of a friend and family member who died of cancer have said that this is ‘definitely not the end’ of their charity fundraising efforts.

Bobby Morton (33) and Alex Marchant (33) raised over £1,000 between them in memory of Bobby’s late father-in-law, Sammy Stewart (pictured), who passed away in August 2022 at the age of 61.

Having taken part in the climb alongside roughly 100 others, all those involved collectively raised over £66,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Speaking of his late father-in-law, Bobby said, “Sammy and I were very close and would have done a lot of ‘outdoorsy’ stuff together like hiking, fishing and camping.

“We were always heading away here and there together and getting up to all sorts, so when he was diagnosed with cancer it had a huge impact on us all.

“Throughout his cancer journey, we saw first and foremost how Macmillan stepped in and helped, so it was a no-brainer to want to give back to them for their care and compassion.”

Bobby also commented on how it was a favourite phrase of Sammy’s that inspired them and many others to keep going throughout the climb.

“We were each given a piece of paper to stick to our backpacks and we had to write the names of those who we were climbing in memory of. One of Sammy’s favourite sayings was ‘keep ‘er lit’ so I wrote ‘Sammy Stewart – keep ‘er lit’ on mine.

“This stood out to the other participants as a very Irish saying, so any time we found ourselves struggling, we would remember Sammy’s words of encouragement.

“It was a great way to remember him.”

Recalling this challenging journey, Alex said, “Bobby and I have always hiked together and spent a lot of time over the years camping and practice bush craft, and climbing the likes of Slieve Gallion, Commedagh and Donard.

“After Sammy passed way, Bobby wanted to do something for Macmillan so we started to look at different challenges and that was when he suggested Ben Nevis.”

The Cookstown climbers then each set up their own individual GoFundMe pages and the donations started rolling in from friends and family.

From there, it wasn’t long until the pair were on a plane to Glasgow.

“We got to Glasgow and rented a car,” explained Alex.

“We drove to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands and met at 9am for registration and a safety briefing before setting off around 9.30am.

“All participants were split into groups based on their fitness and walking speed, with a guide assigned to each group.”

As the Tyrone men ascending towards the UK’s highest and most popular peak, the weather was most definitely in their favour.

“We got stuck right into it and got really lucky with the weather on the day,” said Alex.

“On the week leading up to the climb, there was a foot of snow on the peak of the mountain, but on the day we climbed it, it was sunny and clear, which was also challenging due to the heat.”

Pushing through the 20 degree heat, with a few stops along the way to fill their water bottles from the waterfalls, the two Tyrone men made it to the peak of Ben Nevis in just under four hours.

“While it might not be the toughest climb in the world, it was still long and quite challenging,” explained Alex.

“We spent about half an hour on the summit before making our way down which, to me surprise, took us roughly three hours due to the nature of the route we took.”

The Cookstown men have both stated that this isn’t the end of their climbing endeavours, with hopes of taking on the likes of Mount Toubkal in Morocco and the famous Three Peaks Challenge which would see them tackle the three highest peaks in Great Britain – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales.