Arctic trekkers raise £60k for Isle of Man mental health charity

A team of trekkers from the Isle of Man battled driving snow and injuries in an Arctic challenge to raise more than £60,000 for a mental health charity.

The week-long expedition saw the group cover 68 miles (110km) in temperatures as low as -27C.

The group walked in snowshoes for nine hours on some days, and slept in huts with no electricity.

Isle Listen's chief executive Andrea Chambers said the money raised "will help an awful lot of young people".

The 12-person Expedition Limitless team, which included 10 people from the Isle of Man, followed the Kungsleden trail in northern Sweden, which runs through the Arctic Circle.

The team walked for up to nine hours each day in snowshoes

Trekker Gill Baker hurt a muscle in her hip early in the challenge, and was almost forced to withdraw on the penultimate day as the pain intensified.

However, after a doctor confirmed no permanent damage would be caused if she continued, she decided to carry on and made it across the finish line with the support of the rest of the team.

"I would not have been able to do it without them," she said.

Despite her injury Ms Baker said the beauty of the Arctic was "like a film set" and had taken her breath away.

The group slept in huts with no electricty

The challenge was the first in a series of resilience-based charity challenges created by team leader Phil Quirk, the next of which will see a team climb two mountains in Greenland in 2024.

Ms Chambers said the "amazing amount" raised would help Isle Listen to continue offering one-to-one counselling and teach Manx schoolchildren resilience skills.

The service had received 1,700 referrals for one-to-one support for 10 to 14 year-olds over the last twelve months, she added

"There are a lot of people out there who need specialist mental health support, so we couldn't be more grateful," Ms Chambers said.