A TEAM of personal trainers are climbing the three highest peaks in the UK in under 24 hours to raise money for the Stroke Unit at Great Western Hospital.

The team of six from Group Fit, a personal trainer company based in Cheney Manor, are taking on the Three Peaks challenge in October.

Trainer Jack Grove’s grandad suffered a stroke at home and stayed on the Falcon Ward Acute Stroke Unit in December 2016 but passed away four days later.

The team will walk 23 miles, mostly walking through the night. They start at Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, standing at 1,345 metre, at five in the morning on October 12.

Jack told the Advertiser: “It was just how he was treated while he was there, they were all really nice staff.

“He was in the kitchen and my nan at the time was there. She noticed the symptoms and they lived out in Lechlade, it was just a bad stroke in the end.

“But while he was in the Stroke Unit at GWR he was looked after really well.

"Instead of raising money for causes across the country I thought it would be nice to do something here.

“We already do a lot of walking in Group Fit and I thought let’s take on the challenge and raise some money for it.”

After climbing down Ben Nevis the team will race to Scafell Pike in the Lake District, the highest peak in England, before scaling Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, at over 1,085 metres.

The team will unfurl a banner with a picture of Jack's grandad and take a picture at the top of each peak to remember him.

"We're going to have t-shirts made as well," added Jack. "So if anyone wants to sponsor there logo will go on the t-shirt as well."

But the challenges don't stop with having to climb three mountains.

“You can do really well on the peaks but get stuck in traffic to each peak and fail the challenge," he added.

“We’ve got a designated person to cook some food and drive the minibus and we’re just going to run up and down as quickly as we can and try and rest on the minibus in-between.

“Because it’s October its going to be dark when we start and dark when we finish.”

We’ll just have to see how it goes on the day. It could be windy, snowing, or it could be traffic."

The team want to raise £1,000 for the Stroke Unit and Swindon Intermediate Care Centre, which focuses on rehabilitation. They hope to tackle John O’groats to Lands End next year.