They did it, they are back (relatively) unscathed and the Quins flag flew from 4,169m on the summit of Mount Toubkal in Morocco!
After eight months of fundraising, begging, cajoling and encouraging people to come to Quiz Nights, The Charity Ball, Pub nights etc, the long awaited Morocco Trek took place last weekend. Congratulations from everyone at NEC Harlequins to all the trekkers and well done for raising, to date,
£41,460 for Whizz-Kidz.
Last Thursday saw an intrepid group of Quins staff, players and fans quaking in their walking boots at Heathrow airport as they embarked on the 'trek of a lifetime'. The next four days can only be described as breathtaking, in more ways than one!
Eight hours of trekking on Friday saw the group start at a small village at approximately 2000 metres, pass through a river valley and then start to climb dramatically. Stops were frequent, to refresh and revive sore feet and legs and ensure they took on enough water. A well-deserved lunch was set-up in a tent on the banks of a glacial fed river, after which they only had a couple of hours before reaching base camp, at a mere 3,200m.
Supper and cards in the dark, serenaded by the chanting and singing of the guides made for a bizarre evening. However, this was topped by getting up on Saturday at 2am to climb/scramble over boulders and a glacier in the pitch black.
The summit was reached by climbing up scree slopes, over boulders, across glaciers and along rough paths. It was tough, but led on by the wonderful Moroccan Guides, Rashid and Abdel, the team supported and encouraged each other all the way. The summit was reached at about 9.30am on Saturday morning, after about seven hours of climbing!
From the top of Mount Toubkal, the views were absolutely breathtaking, looking down on the Atlas mountain range and over the Sahara.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre stops was at about 3,600m on the way back to base camp when someone managed to get mobile phone reception. No calls home, just one call to a pub in Twickenham to find out that England had beaten Denmark 3-0! They also found out that Jason Leonard had been made an MBE!
Getting back to the buses on Saturday at 7.15pm meant the group had been trekking for almost 18 hours, from their rude awakening at 2.00am! But never let it be said that Quins fans would miss out - it was back to Marrakesh and out for a wonderful Moroccan banquet!
As members of the group have said since returning home:
"All the support and teamwork made a physically and mentally exhausting trek into a most memorable four days. The team spirit, friendship and fun are something the group will all remember and treasure."
"When the going got tough - and it did - with injuries and ailments ranging from altitude sickness to blisters, mild hypothermia to tiredness, dodgy knees to dehydration - it was almost easy to lose sight of why we went through everything we did up that mountain in Morocco."
"It was for Whizz-Kidz and we did it!"
If anyone would like to lend their support, please send in cheques payable to 'Whizz-Kidz Trading Limited' to the Quins Office, and they will be paid into the group fund.
Thank you for your support.
