A CLIMBER carried on with a gruelling charity challenge to climb the Three Peaks despite breaking a rib on one of the mountains.

A team of six from Carricks fishmongers, of Snape, near Bedale, set themselves the task of climbing Ben Nevis, in Scotland, Scafell Pike, in England, and Snowdon, in Wales, in 24 hours to help Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Scott Suite, at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton.

It was the idea of general manager Nicola Carrick and development manager Chris Revis, who were married last December, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, on their honeymoon.

The Three Peaks challenge was successfully completed in 21 hours and 15 minutes by members of the Carricks team -Mr and Mrs Revis, Mr Revis' father, Martin, Daniel Carrick and Jonny Ling.

Chris Revis said: "The weather on all three mountains was dreadful. The final one, Snowdon, was very bad, with driving rain, very cold temperatures and gale force winds. We have since heard that hundreds of people abandon the challenge after the first mountain, Ben Nevis, due to the bad conditions.

"We nearly had to abandon our attempt in the Lake District after we had got to the summit of Scafell Pike.

"On the return, my dad slipped on a rock and fell very hard on his side. He then ended up 10ft below the path in a raging torrent of a stream.

"Being as stubborn as he is, he said everything was fine and he would continue. Somehow, and we still do not know how, he dragged himself to the top of Snowdon, sometimes on his hands and knees. It later turned out that he had broken a rib on Scafell Pike when he fell."

Driver support was given by Howard Gill, Kevin Carrick, Martin Carrick and Mike Thompson.

Mr Revis said: "We are all very proud of one another for completing the challenge in such a good time and in such bad conditions."

A week after the challenge, the company held a summer ball at Bedale Hall, when a charity auction raised £8,000 for the Scott Suite.

The efforts raised a total of £17,000, of which £9,000 will go to Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Mr Revis said: "We set a target of £20,000, so we are a little disappointed that we have not met it, but we are still accepting donations on the website www. justgiving.com/carricks, at any of our market stalls or our shop in Snape.