A team of determined journalists have completed a gruelling charity trek which saw them climbing the three highest mountains in the country.

The ten-strong  team from the Hull Daily Mail took on the Three Peaks Challenge – climbing to the top of Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon, with the aim of reaching the finish line in 24 hours.

They fell short of their target by seven hours, completing the challenge in 31 hours 20 minutes.

The team was made up of editor John Meehan, his deputy Paul Hartley, design editor Ian Bond, development manager Pete Barnatt, business editor Catherine Lea, education reporter Katie Knass, crime reporter Adam Lovell, news reporters Kevin Shoesmith and Danny Longhorn and production journalist Kate Dance. They were joined by adventure scout Chris Fenton and Kate’s husband Mark.

Said Paul: “I think it’s fair to say that we seriously underestimated the scale of the challenge. Three peaks in 24 hours sounds simple, but in reality you need to be very fit, very organised and very lucky with the weather and the traffic to have any chance of achieving this goal.

“The first seeds of doubt were sown when the most experienced member of our group, a serious climber who once survived four days clinging to an ice shelf on the Matterhorn, revealed he’d done the three peaks numerous times but never in less than 24 hours.

“It must have been the altitude, because at the top of Ben Nevis I was still telling myself and the others we could do it.  By the time we reached the bottom, tired and footsore, we knew it would be an achievement to simply complete all three peaks back to back, regardless of the time, and so it proved. ”

He added: “I always used to think you had to be slightly daft to take on something like this.  Now I know that’s not strictly accurate – but it certainly helps.”

A team from the Hull Daily Mail have completed a charity trek.

Editor John said the descent from Snowdon mountain marathon was the most difficult part of the challenge.

He said: “By the time we started to come down from Snowdon, cloud cover had set in and visibility was down to not much more than 20 or 30 yards.  That made getting down even more difficult and raised the chances of somebody becoming separated from the team and losing their way.

“Then the light went and, for  the last hour, we had to pick our way through the boulders and sharp rocks by torchlight. We stayed close together, checking every hundred yards or so that no one had lost touch with the group.”

“We were the last ones off the mountain, it was getting colder and wetter, and there was a real risk of serious injury, but everyone looked after their teammates every step of the way. There was no panic, we kept focused and morale stayed high, but it was a huge relief to eventually come out at base camp – a youth hostel at the foot of the mountain.”

The team were raising around £5,000 for Dove House Hospice’s Love You 2 Appeal – the Mail’s charity of the year, which aims to raise £2.5m to expand east Hull hospice.

They completed the final peak in darkness at 11.20pm on Sunday 5 June.