Father and sons to climb Mt Kilimanjaro for centre

A FAMILY from Nettlebed are to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in aid of a Henley charity.

John Thompson, 55, will be joined by his two sons, Kit, 16, and Luke, 18, on Monday when they take on the eight-day trek to the Uhuru Peak, which stands at 5,895m.

The family are raising money for the Henley Debt Centre at Trinity Church, which provides free debt advice and support to residents.

They will trek the Lemonsho route, which begins at the Londorossi Gate, on the western side of the mountain.

The route allows for climbers to adjust to the altitude because of its gradual ascent.

The family have raised more than £1,000 so far after originally setting themselves a target of £500.

Mr Thompson, the director of JT-Comms, an Australian PR firm, said the climb had been on his bucket list since he first planned to complete the feat in 2002.

He said: “I was born in Nairobi. We left to move to Australia when I was four or five and I was back there in 2002 and had planned to climb it then but I couldn’t make it work.

“The reason for doing it now is because my eldest son has completed his A-levels and Kit has completed his GCSEs so it’s an opportunity for us to do something together, for them to understand some of their history and have a father-son bonding experience.”

Having scaled Mount Kinabalu in Kenya in 2002 and the distance across the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Mr Thompson said this will be the hardest feat he has ever done.

He said: “I’m not as young as I was so I have been doing lots of training. I need to make sure that I’m fit. I’m reasonably confident that I will be able to manage the altitude and I also want to make sure that the boys will be able to too.

“The peak day, when you have to get up at midnight to get to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, is going to be a psychological challenge as much as a physical one because it’s a shaley type of rock so it’s two steps forward and one step back.

“But there is an inner strength in doing this with two of the most important people in my life.

“The success rate of the route we are doing is much higher because it gives us a chance to acclimatise.”

Mr Thompson has been training at Love Fitness Gym in Dry Leas and running alongside his retriever Tommy, five, while sticking to a training plan.

The trio will hike between 10km and 15km a day and 30km on the day of ascent. Temperatures will range from
-4C to 27C.

The family, who attend St Mary’s Church, say the Henley Debt Centre is important to them after facing their own financial struggles.

Mr Thompson said: “It took me a long time to get on my feet when we moved to the UK with my wife’s work and there were some very dark times. We were very much concerned about finances and it becomes one of those fundamental [problems].

“This is another reason why Henley Debt Centre means so much to me because I’ve had those types of struggles.”

Kit, who will study physics, chemistry and economics at Abingdon School, said he isn’t intimidated by the physical challenges, as a hockey player and cyclist. He has been preparing by running every two days around the village.

He said: “I do quite a lot of sport and run quite often. Because we are doing the longer route, acclimatising will be a bit easier and there will be less chance of altitude sickness.

“I have had a bone inflammation in my leg recently but if I start feeling a bit bad halfway up the mountain, I’m not going to stop. With the difference in temperature, I have enough kit with me to keep me warm.

“This is something we will cherish because it’s a really nice experience to do this together as my brother is going to university so it will probably be the last big thing we do together for a couple of years.”