Venture team go the extra mile (or two) for charity midnight charity walk in Mournes

As charity efforts go, the team from Venture Photography can truly say they ‘went the extra mile’ when taking part in the recent iPlod walk in the Mournes.

For instead of completing the expected 50km hike, the team reckon they walked an additional 20 kms due to a few technical details with their map reading.

“There were a few mishaps,” admitted Lisburn based team member Julie McBride, Northern Ireland Manager of Venture Photography which has studios in Belfast and Lisburn.

“But it was well worth it as we raised over £1,700 for Action Medical Research and only accumulated four blisters between us!”

Essentially a 50km fundraising trek through the Mourne Mountains, the iPlod event had one important difference – starting at midnight, teams were expected to finish a designated route in 15-17 hours, clocking in at various check points along the way whilst completing a number of tasks.

The idea of ‘plodding’ for charity came from Dunmurry Telesales Manager Kevin MacManus, who is based at Venture’s Belfast branch on the Lisburn Road. As team captain he formed the necessary team with Julie McBride (from Lisburn), Art Director Francis Meaney (Donacloney), photographer Sharon Duffin (Larne), Jenn Whalley, a former employee at Venture’s head office in England and Production Manager Joe Faughey, (Hillsborough), the team’s support driver.

“None of the team are professional ramblers so the more information we found out about what the challenge involved, the more daunting it sounded,” said Julie. “But nevertheless we all bought in to the purpose behind the Plod – raising money for sick and vulnerable babies and disabled children,” she added.

“Being busy people with demanding jobs and families made training hard, but we managed to fit in a good number of walking sessions at Castlewellan, Tollymore Forest Park and Cave Hill in preparation,” said Kevin.

However, the team admit now they should also have spent a little more time honing their orientation skills – on the eve of the iPlod none of them were entirely sure how to read on Ordinance Survey map, making the initial orienteering task around Tollymore Forest more difficult than they expected.

“It was midnight when we started and as we got deeper into the forest (where it got darker and quieter), it became apparent we had taken a wrong turn,” said Julie. “When we eventually completed that task and reached the check point at 5am we wondered why no-one else was around.  “It soon became clear – we had arrived six hours early and missed a huge section of the course due to another wrong turn.

“In hindsight, this was possibly the funniest moment, although at the time all that could be felt was sheer disappointment after five hours of walking without sleep and panic at the thought of being kicked off the Plod or having to start over.

“Luckily, the iPlod crew were really helpful and arranged for us to meet up with our support driver, Joe, who took us back on track. After a rest and some breakfast we decided to pick up our spirits and set out again – only to take another wrong turn. Luckily, this time we realized early enough to get back on track.”

Catching up with other iPlod trekkers, the Venture team decided it might be advantageous to follow a team that knew their way to the finish point and so despite their earlier map mishaps, the team managed to finish in a very creditable 16.5 hours.

“Surprisingly, walking at night was not scary in the slightest,” said Julie “The forest was very quiet and dark but we were all very focused on the task in hand. As dawn began to break during our ascent up the Mournes the view was awe inspiring. There were little pockets of mist in the valley and clouds surrounding the peaks, and the sky took on a pink/purple glow which made us forget that