Snowdonia for Matt

John has been giving his time and skills to the Snowdon 500 and Welsh 3 Peaks Challenges since the creation of the event, volunteering for eleven years in a row. We have always been impressed and inspired by his dedication to the Challenge and his wish to see it go well and raise significant funds for the charity. Of course, even when we asked him about himself, he was still more interested in praising the others who have been involved in the Challenge!

“I came to know PCR through my friend Matt Rannamets. Matt had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and only given a short time to live. When the treatment he had been given had kept him well he decided to give something back by devising a fundraising event. That event was Snowdon 500; to have 500 people walk to the summit of Mount Snowdon (and back down) and to be sponsored to do so. The sponsorship funds would go to Prostate Cancer Research to help fund research for a cure. Matt and I both retired from the Civil Service during 2006 and I offered to help with this project. The organization team consisted of Matt and myself together with members of PCR’s fundraising team. 2007 was spent organizing and publicizing the project with a view to running the first event in the spring of 2008.

With the excellent work undertaken by the PCR team and contributions by Matt’s family, friends and former colleagues, that first challenge raised almost twice the targeted amount. So successful did the event become that by the seventh year, over one million pounds had been raised for the charity. Unfortunately this terrible disease caught up with Matt and we lost him in 2016. However, we all agreed that the project was worth continuing for 2017 and will again be run in 2020. My involvement has shown how the PCRC scientists are working hard to find a cure and are ably supported by the fundraising team.”

We wanted to say thank you to John for being such an integral part of the volunteering team, making the Snowdon 500 and Welsh 3 Peaks Challenges incredible walks to be a part of for everyone. Without his support, we wouldn’t be able to continue with the event and build on his and Matt’s hard work.