Student and lecturer team up for epic non-stop three peak challenge for charity

Jess Larbalestier, a BA Television and Radio Production student and Jimmy Ewing, a Lecturer in Media Production, will seek to tackle Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon all in one go on Tuesday 5 May.

Jimmy, an avid runner, will be running up each peak whilst Jess will be taking the hiking routes, as they both scale approximately 26 miles of terrain and over 500 miles of driving.

They are doing the challenge for very similar reasons as both have seen family members go through cancer treatment in recent years.

Jess, 20, from Stockport, is raising money for The Christie because of the support it has provided to her mum, Helen, (both pictured above) over the last three years since she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.

She said: “I was in my last year at college when she was diagnosed, and we straight away got told that it looked like she wasn’t going to last long. I was in bits and really struggled to talk to anyone about it.

“But the more appointments she had, the better the news got about her condition, and she’s been making progress ever since.”

Jess raised over £3300 for The Christie back in September 2023 by doing a skydive.

She added: “When we were going to the hospital, I kept thinking about what I could do to help, to make things easier for her. I saw a fundraising poster in the hospital and thought I need to do something to help raise money and give her a slightly better medical experience.”

Over two years on, Jess is now keen to do another big fundraising challenge for the charity and after discovering a personal love for hiking, is setting herself the challenge of tackling each of the three peaks, non-stop, to raise as much money as she can.

“I kept thinking about how I could top my skydive. I went travelling a few years ago and became the biggest hiker. Now I’m very determined to climb every mountain I see!

“It’s very freeing, and as an adrenaline junkie, I do the hardest ones I possibly can as I find that it clears my mind. Your problems start to feel really small when you’re stood on top of a mountain.”

Jimmy got involved when Jess started speaking to staff at the University’s MediaCity campus about the challenge.

Jess said: “I was keen to make it a community thing and get people to come and get involved by picking a mountain and climbing with me. When Jimmy heard about the challenge, he reached out to give his support and said he would run the peaks rather than hike!”

Jimmy lost his mum Anne (both pictured below) in September 2024 after she was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer called a Krukenberg Tumor.

Anne had worked on the oncology wards as a cancer research specialist nurse at St James’ University Hospital in Leeds and was diagnosed shortly before retirement.

After her diagnosis, she encouraged Jimmy’s family to do a fun run for Cancer Research UK, prompting Jimmy to take up running for the first time.

He said: “It was the first time I had ever done a run but I took it quite seriously as I previously couldn’t have run to the end of my street without being out of breath.

“I fell into it and have been going further and further ever since, doing both Manchester and Leeds marathons last year.

“I raised money for Prostate Cancer UK last year and I had been looking for an event to raise money for this year when Carl Williams, one of our coworkers at MediaCity stopped me and talked about Jess’ challenge.

“I went and read her story that night and felt that I had to support her. There’s a lot of similarities to what I went through with my mum and so I emailed her straight away and we had a chat about what we’ve both been through. We’re both of the same mindset that raising money to help others who are going through the same thing is one of the best things you can do.”

Jimmy, who also has a huge fear of heights, plans to start the challenge at Ben Nevis with Jess before going ahead to Scafell Pike and then will await Jess’ arrival at Snowdon for the last peak. His dad and Anne's husband of almost 50 years, Robert Ewing, will be driving Jimmy between the mountains to show his support for Jess. 

Just over a month later, he will then undergo his first Ultra Marathon, running along Hadrian’s Wall from Carlisle Castle to Newcastle city centre. He is aiming to do the challenge in 15 hours.

He added of Jess’ challenge: “She’s a brilliant student and we are all behind her and everyone is doing all they can to share her story and support. Her internal strength and positivity is just so impressive, as she has kept it all to herself and would have never have said anything if it wasn’t for this challenge.”

Jess currently has a group of six who will be taking part in parts of the challenge with her but is looking for anymore to get involved and help fundraise in the process.

She added: “Almost everyone that I’ve spoken to has gone through something like this. Most people will know someone that has been impacted by cancer."

“Which is why I want this to be a community thing, where people can come pick a mountain and get involved in it.”

Jess is also teaming up with student radio station Utter Radio to raise money for the challenge with each member of the station’s team to undergo the Ice Bucket Challenge for every £100 raised and she has all enlisted a number of lecturers based at MediaCity to volunteer for a ‘party panel’ in which students can donate money to throw a cream pie at one of their lecturers ahead of the challenge.

Donations can be made to the challenge via the duo's Justgiving page.