CHALLENGE 31

In 2016 the Sherborne Qatar family of schools joined up with United World Schools (UWS), a facilitating partner of Education Above All (EAA), to support our partner schools, Som Roung and Pray Maes, in rural Cambodia, as part of UWS’s aim to get primary aged children into school. 2019 saw the first Prep and Senior Schools’ trip to Cambodia for a weeklong familiarization visit, with the aim of then sending volunteer Senior School pupils to help out in the school. Unfortunately, the pupil visit was put on hold because of Covid-19.

As we transition out of the pandemic and its associated restrictions, we are aware that the challenges in post Covid-19 Cambodia of living and putting food on the table mean that education, understandably, slips down the list of priorities. Now more than ever, our partner schools need our support.

It was with this in mind that in the summer of 2021 Mr Bray and I decided that we wanted to do something to raise funds to help keep the schools developing and therefore improving the surrounding area. (For example, now that there are a schools, a doctor visits the villages regularly). We considered a wide range of challenges and it wasn’t really until relatively late on, that we settled on The Torch Hotel Stair Climb – having held a similar event (albeit for the whole Sherborne community) in 2015. Part of the challenge itself was the actual training, as the 1304 steps to the 51st floor weren’t easy to replicate! However, on the morning of 22nd April, at 6.15 a.m., we began the grizzly challenge of climbing the steps of The Torch Hotel 31 times – Challenge 31 – with 51 floors to each climb, combining to be the equivalent height of Mount Everest.

We had expected each of the two days to take roughly eight hours to complete 16 and 15 ascents respectfully, each day. That’s not how it transpired. After eight painful hours on Day 1, we still had quite a way to go. It did, in fact, take twelve and a half hours to complete 16 ascents of the iconic building in the Aspire Zone. It was important that, by the end of Day 1, as much as we were physically hurting, psychologically, we were over halfway. A series of videos on Sherborne’s social media sites kept the supporters updated throughout the day. I remember thinking as I went to bed at 7.00 p.m. that night that I really hoped my body got enough rest, ready for Day 2.

Day 2 was an incredibly difficult start as the calf and quad muscles were in serious pain to begin with. However, we actually got off to a very strong start chipping away at the remaining 15 ascents of the Torch and completing five of those in quite quick succession. At different times on Day 2, both of us did ‘hit the wall’ and felt as though we could not continue. However, a series of visitors came to cheer us on, as well as a steady stream of donations through the Just Giving site, and of course the whole purpose of why we were doing