The estate's all-terrain vehicle was used in the rescue on the Cheviots. Photo: NNPMRT
A major fundraiser for a mountain rescue team will take place this weekend.
The Cheviot Challenge will be staged for the 36th time to help provide cash for the Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team.
Walkers in the event have a choice of 17- or 22-mile routes and is expected to bring in about £3,000. Annual running costs for the team are £20,000.
Retailer Cotswold Outdoor is the main sponsor of the challenge this year, and footwear brand Merrell is also supporting the event.
The event starts and finishes at the Rose and Thistle Inn in Alwinton and is designed as a personal challenge that is accessible to all with a good level of fitness. The rescue team will be in strategic places along the routes, to provide encouragement and light refreshments, and to ensure the safe running of the event.
Alison Chalk, local marketing representative at Cotswold Outdoor, said: “Completing the Cheviot Challenge myself last year inspired me to encourage Cotswold Outdoor to support NNPMRT and this year’s event.
“The NNPMRT are an invaluable organisation within our region and rely solely on fundraising for their functioning. We will be delighted to have a presence at the event on the day, with some of our store staff members gearing themselves up for the challenge itself. We would encourage anyone who loves the hills to get involved too.”
Online entries for the event have closed, but on-the-day entry is possible for Saturday’s challenge. Details are on the rescue team’s website.
The rescuers, along with colleagues from the North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team, were in action over the bank holiday weekend, responding to three incidents.
They were called out about 6.30pm on Sunday when a woman suffered a knee injury and was unable to bear weight, while walking in the Cheviots.
A NNPMRT spokesperson said: “After calling for help, the injured walker and her three companions took shelter in the Auchope refuge hut on the Border Ridge.
“Two local members of mountain rescue travelled direct to the College Valley, along with two mountain rescue Land Rover ambulances. In parallel, the Border Search and Rescue Unit deployed from the Scottish side of the border with a further two mountain rescue Land Rover ambulances.
“Thankfully, the estate manager for College Valley and a colleague were able to assist by transporting a team member on to the hill in their all-terrain vehicle. The ATV was then used to evacuate the injured walker and one other member of the party to a waiting Land Rover.
“The mountain rescue member on the hill then walked the other two members of the party off the hill before being transported the remainder of the journey back to Mounthooly in a mountain rescue Land Rover.”
The four-hour rescue involved nine team members, with others on standby.
The previous day, rescuers were called out at 6.45pm to help a man suffering severe chest pains in the Housesteads area of Hadrian’s Wall.
The spokesperson said: “The male was located a quarter of a mile from Milecastle 37 just to the West of Housesteads.
“Due to the nature of the male’s condition, helicopter support was requested. The Great North Air Ambulance Service responded and was able to land near the casualty, before flying him to hospital.”
Two team members took part in the incident, which lasted just short of an hour. In the early hours of Saturday police requested the teams’ help to search for a high-risk missing woman in her early 50s in the Prudhoe area.
The team used the Sarloc mobile phone system to try to locate her, but she did not respond to the message. As rescuers were planning their search, the woman was located.
