I woke up yesterday morning almost unable to move. My hands were torn and blistered, the skin behind my knee was burnt and scabbed, my feet were bruised, my back aching and I had a severe headache. I actually felt like I had been run over several times by a bull.
Yet I still had this ecstatic, energetic feeling throughout my body. A feeling of satisfaction, accomplishment and extreme pride.
It would not matter what happened that day or for many days to come, I knew this feeling would not go away. I knew it, because we had achieved something that seemed impossible. We had climbed over 10,000 metres in rope climbs in under 15 hours and with a group of people that most would consider “average people”. I now know how untrue this is, it was and is the perfect example of the fact that “average people” can become “super heroes” and for the second year now we have proven that.
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well, this picture represents over 1,000 emotions. It was taken at 11pm on Saturday night literally seconds after the very last rope was climbed.
Of course there were so many people that contributed in such a big way, however, I first want to thank, from the bottom of my heart the ones in the photo. You can see it in their eyes, the pain, the struggle and the excitement.
At a point when so many others would have quit and given up, saying “it’s too hard” or “it’s not possible” (and we did say it, many times), this group of super heroes kept on going, because it represented something bigger than them. It was about letting people that struggle every day, in ways that we will never understand, know that we won’t let them do it alone, it was about stepping up and being more than just another person.
Allow me to take you on an amazing adventure that was, ROPE CLIMBS 2 EVEREST and everything that it represents.
We started at 7am.
15 or so people still waking up, but ready to put themselves through what ended up being one of the most physically and mentally challenging thing that most of them will possibly ever do.
The level of excitement and anticipation was electric. It’s too hard to explain. People were preparing themselves for the onslaught that was about to start. From last year we knew that there would be blistered hands, torn skin, burnt thighs, skinless shins, sore feet, cramping biceps and a level of fatigue that you’ll never experience in a fun run.
As soon as we kicked off the pace was set. Brad (the most modest guy you will ever meet) set off knowing that he wasn’t able to be there all day due to prior commitments.
When you have a guy like that working his butt off, it’s very hard for everyone else to sit back and watch. So with enthusiasm the rest of us stepped up to the early morning challenge laid out in front of us (keep up with Brad). And i’ll tell you what, he made us work for it. He ended up climbing a blistering 217m in his first 2 hours (he totalled 532 for the whole day).
We knew it from the beginning that it was going to be an inspirational day, Brad (the first super hero) had already proved that.
With the goal of climbing a total of 10,000m we knew that there was a certain pace that needed to be maintained and a certain amount of people that needed to be on the ropes at any one time. We didn’t maintain that pace 🙁 Breakfast got served and the climbing stopped. We had by now been on the ropes for around 3 hours and we were sore. The worst part was, we knew that the first climb back was going to be the most painful and the hardest.
Then we were re-inspired. The second super hero of the day arose. Yes, he slept in, but when Lucas arrived you knew he was on a mission. He was going to lead the way and get us all across that line, right through to the 10,000m mark. And that’s exactly what he did. Climbing a monstrous total of 1081m throughout the day, Lucas proved that we are capable of so much more than people think.
It wasn’t until a bit later in the afternoon that I saw it. Something that will stay with me forever. I had the privilege of meeting and introducing everyone to Jess White from Kane’s Crusade. A super hero herself, Jess is fighting to ensure that awareness, support and the right training is in place to help people that suffer from depression and other mental illnesses.
After Jess spoke to the group (this was around the busiest time of the day between 1 and 3pm). I looked around and I saw it. Real life super heroes, EVERYWHERE!!
Regardless of how high they climbed or didn’t climb, they didn’t need to be as fit or strong as Lucas or Brad. They just needed to be willing to put someone else before them. And that’s exactly what they were doing.
Some of these super heroes had spent around 6-8 hours with us, away from their families and friends, away from all the “fun stuff” to do on a Saturday and didn’t climb a single metre. What they did do was count. They counted and added every single metre of rope climbed to make sure that the rest of us knew how far we had gone. There were people there that had never climbed a rope in their life that were giving it a go because they cared. There was 1 lady in particular who did 5 deadmen (a variation of a rope climb) to get 1 metre. SHE CLIMBED 7 metres!! That’s 35 deadmen for someone who didn’t think that they had the physical ability to contribute.
As the end of the day drew closer, the numbers started to dwindle. People had families to get back to, others were too injured to continue and one in particular was taken to hospital via ambulance after landing poorly when she jumped from the top of the rope and broke her heel bone.
This is when the realisation set in, that mental illness was not something that you could just give up on. It’s not something that people can just switch off and say “it’s been a long day, I think I’ll stop know, I want to relax”. It’s something that you have to keep fighting until you beat it. It’s a daily grind, little battle after little battle, lots of losses in the hope for 1 little win. And even though I can’t say that what we did came even close to what someone that suffers from depression goes through, we certainly hit points where we decided that it was time to give up.
It was now after 7pm (our goal time), there was maybe 20 people left, most of us severely torn, burnt, bruised and blistered and we still had over 2,000m to climb. No one wanted to say it out loud, but, it seemed impossible. There weren’t enough of us to finish that many climbs, we were too tired, to sore and “it was too hard”. Even though we were all thinking it, those words never actually came out of our mouths. Because as soon as they came close, we saw someone else stepping up to the plate and grinding on for that next little win which was a 4m climb in a 2,000m up hill battle.
Metre by metre, 1 by 1, we kept going. What made it so special, was the fact that no-one cared how long it was actually going to take. Of course we were groaning and whinging a times, but in reality we were never going to stop.
What amazes me the most, is realising why we didn’t stop. It wasn’t because we had set a goal that we wanted to achieve, it wasn’t because we wanted to brag to our friends about how awesome we were. It was because we were inspired by the unsung super heroes that couldn’t be there with us. It was at this point, when all we wanted to do was close our eyes and give up, when our entire body was aching and in pain and our mind was screaming at us, telling us ENOUGH! That we remembered the super heroes that go through this exact same battle every day of their lives.
And they so it on their own. 🙁
It’s a spectacular sight to see what we are capable of when we work together. It is inspirational to see people go through adversity on their own and come out the other side.
After the second time completing this event, what has stuck with me the most, is how important it is to have the right people in front of you, above you, next to you and beneath you to get you through the hardest of times.
If you participated in RC2E or if you volunteered or just supported from a distance, it’s super heroes like you that make human beings like us capable of achieving absolutely anything. And that definitely includes overcoming depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses.
“Don’t just surround yourself with people that lift you up. Be the person that lifts others”. – unknown
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