Sports Therapy and other students from the University of Bedfordshire are preparing to climb the highest mountains in the UK in just 24 hours.

Around 30 students, led by Sports Psychology Senior Lecturer Robert Anderson, who trained as a mountain leader with the Scottish Mountain Rescue Organisation, will take on the Three Peaks Challenge at the weekend. The team will plant a University of Bedfordshire flag and the corresponding national flag at the summit of each of the three peaks for photographs. The flags will then be carried down the mountain.

The event was organised by the University’s Chaplain, Rev Howard Thornton. He said: “The University of Bedfordshire is about students challenging themselves, this doesn’t just mean academically, but physically, mentally and spiritually as well. The Three Peaks Challenge will do this, which is why I organised the event.

“This is also a great way for students to celebrate finishing their exams, and the discipline and training required to meet the challenge has helped them in their studies as well.”

The keen mountaineers will start at 4pm on Saturday 9 June with the challenge of scaling Ben Nevis in Scotland, which is the highest peak in the UK at 1344m (4406ft). Lochaber College in Fort William will provide an excellent send off at the start of the challenge by opening their catering facilities on Saturday morning to provide breakfast for the group.

Once they have finished the gruelling climb they will travel overnight to the Lake District in mini buses to take on Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England which is 978m, at the crack of dawn.

They estimate this will only take a few hours and will then travel to North Wales to climb Snowdon, which stands at 1085m, by 4pm on Sunday.

Mr Anderson said: “It will be quite a challenge to climb all three in 24 hours but my experience as a mountain leader means I know the mountains very well, especially Ben Nevis and I am confident we will do it.

“The one thing I will be making sure of is that the students are prepared for the possibility of freezing temperatures at the mountain summits and will make sure they take warm clothes with them, as well as water proofs, compasses, maps, a first aid kit, some waterproof sleeping bags and a good set of walking boots.”

In September Sport Therapy students will put their skills to the test and provide much needed massages to competitors of the Ben Nevis Race, where international runners will run up and down the mountain. They will ease the limbs of more than 500 competitors. The men’s record for running from sea-level in Fort William to the 1344m (4406ft) summit and back stands at 1 hour 25 minutes and 34 seconds. This was set by Kenny Stewart of Keswick Athletic Club in 1984. The same year saw the women’s record set by Pauline Stewart of the same athletic club at 1 hour 43 minutes and 25 seconds.

To find out more about studying Sports Therapy at the University of Bedfordshire,  call 01234 400400.