A 13-strong contingent from charity fundraising super-group Hockey for Heroes conquered Mount Snowdon – all while carrying a 90kg weighted stretcher up and down the mountain – to take its total raised over the last 13 years to more than £400,000.
The Hockey for Heroes men’s squad rose to their latest challenge, Operation Ascension, by scaling the mountain and then, astonishingly, playing in a tournament the next day against Neston and Chester hockey clubs, raising more than £3,000 for us in the process.
Every two years, the team undertakes a major national challenge, and its 2025 event, Op Peace Finder, set a new benchmark. Over nine days, men’s and women’s squads completed 2,029,201 metres of fitness racing and played 54 matches nationwide, raising a phenomenal £102,647 and taking the total raised, since 2013, to more than £400,000 – an astonishing feat.
Now, the total raised sits at an incredible £423,678 and, with the group’s next challenge set for 28 May to 5 June 2027, its impact shows no signs of slowing.
Our community fundraising manager, John Carpenter, was full of praise for group. He said: “What the Hockey for Heroes team keeps doing is just unreal. Marching a 90kg stretcher up and down Snowdon is hard enough on its own, but then to turn around and play a tournament the very next day? That’s next level, even for them, and they’ve done it with grit, humour and a real sense of purpose.
“Every challenge they take on helps us support more members of the armed forces community, and we’re incredibly lucky to have them on our side. I would say, ‘what will they do next?’ – but knowing this lot, it’ll probably be something even more ridiculous … and we’ll be cheering them on all the way.”
Published on