A MALDON man enlisted work pals to raise more than £5,000 for Cancer Research UK after completing the Three Peaks challenge.

The gruelling challenge, which requires you to climb Ben Nevis, in Scotland, Scafell Pike, in England, and Snowdon, in Wales, requires 26 miles of climbing and 1,300 miles of travelling.

Lee Brace, 44, of Longfellow Road, Maldon, tackled the test with 11 colleagues from his workplace at Savills and Harlow Council.

It is the latest in a long line of fundraising events for Lee, who has been affected by cancer personally.

He said: “I have been doing charity work for Cancer Research ever since my dad passed away from cancer ten years ago. I try and do something every year, and this year lost my aunt to cancer as well.

“We gathered up some people who I work with and got together, deciding to do the Three Peaks. We were aiming to raise £2,000 but we got £5,000 so it went really well.”

The group of 12 took just over 28 hours to complete the challenge, and Lee admits it was a lot tougher than he was expecting.

He added: “It was very difficult. I think I underestimated it slightly to be honest. Ben Nevis was very tough, I was glad we did that one first and got it out of the way, but the views from the top with the snow were great.

“It took a little longer that we were expecting to climb that so we ended up climbing Scafell Pike in the dark which was quite scary and very difficult. Then we headed over to Wales and unsurprisingly were hit with rain.

“We did it in just over 28 hours in the end with pretty much no sleep.”

It was a gruelling ordeal for Lee and company, but they managed to pull through it thanks to a team bond they built up through training.

Lee explained: “It was not about getting up there quickly. It was about getting up there as a team, and get- ting back down as a team.

“Since January we have been training together and running together and we really felt like a proper team.

We all put our hearts and souls into it.

“When the chips were down you always had someone to put a hand on your shoulder, and when you weren’t down, you were putting your hand on someone else’s. It was a great team effort.

“The team are extremely proud and truly humbled by all the generosity and support throughout this challenge which encouraged us to push harder when we were up against it.”