Oliver Valves staff tackle tough challenge for charity (From Knutsford Guardian)

Oliver Valves staff tackle tough challenge for charity

12:50pm Monday 8th February 2010

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A TEAM of IT experts from Knutsford battled through ice, mud and flaming hay bales to raise money for charity.

Brothers Kevin and Gary White and their colleague Tim Walton joined 5,000 other competitors to take on the Tough Guy Challenge, a punishing 13km assault course located in the fields of Perton Village, south Staffordshire.

The three, who work for Knutsford firm Oliver Valves – which designs and builds components used by the world’s biggest oil and gas firms – completed one of the most gruelling endurance challenges in the UK on Sunday, raising more than £1,000 for the Forces Children’s Trust.

They crossed the finish line together, in just over three hours.

The dynamic trio had to endure extremes of temperature as they scaled precarious structures, dodged electrified wire, dived into icy lakes and ran through fields strewn with flaming hay bales.

The course began with a 10km cross-country run littered with trenches and steep hills, followed by an intimidating series of 20 obstacles including two 12 metre-high cargo nets, a crawl through mud beneath barbed wire and a rope-walk over a lake of iced water.

Kevin said: “Gary and I are both seasoned triathlon athletes and Tim has been training hard, but that did not prepare us for the vicious onslaught of the Tough Guy course.

“As we became more and more exhausted, each obstacle seemed harder than the last – it was a massive relief to reach the end.”

The Oliver team’s chosen charity, the Forces Children’s Trust, is devoted to helping dependent children with parents who have been killed or seriously injured while serving in the armed forces.

Kevin added: “It may have been a painful experience, but it has also been very satisfying – because all the money has gone to such a fantastic cause.”

Donations to the team’s fundraising effort can be made online at justgiving.com/truegrIT.

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