Stafford man completes three-peaks challenge carrying fridge

Michael Copeland completed the challenge in 23 hours and 50 minutes

A former soldier has completed the three-peaks challenge while carrying a fridge on his back.

Michael Copeland, from Stafford, scaled the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales in just under 24 hours to raise money for charity.

"The biggest challenge was the timings between the mountains," he said, adding that he had to run for the last hour.

The fridge aims to illustrate the burden of carrying mental health issues around, Mr Copeland said.

He has raised thousands for mental health charity Mind.

"It was a bit of a struggle," he said. "We had heavy rain, 30-40mph winds as we're going up so it almost felt like a grown adult was trying to push me over."

Mr Copeland carries the fridge to represent the overwhelming feeling of mental health struggles

He also overcame snow as he climbed Ben Nevis in Scotland, but said racing between the other peaks, Scafell Pike in the Lake District and Snowdon in Gwynedd, caused the biggest problems.

"We got to the top [of Snowdon] and we realised we had an hour and a half to get back down," Mr Copeland said.

"It was very dramatic, we had to run for the last hour to make it on time."

"I was running with the fridge on my back, it was banging against my back and it was very uncomfortable, but I couldn't not finish it," he added.

Mr Copeland has previously carried the fridge up Snowdon and he trains with the appliance on Cannock Chase.

"It's not about a fridge, it's about what it represents," he said.

"So obviously, climbing the mountain is almost like life and the fridge is mental health."

Mr Copeland has raised more than £7,000.