Duo take the high road for Great Outdoors Challenge

A TEESDALE fundraiser is going the extra mile for the area’s mountain rescue team.
Battling blisters, aching limbs and the Scottish climate, Tom Deakin, 32, from Gainford, and Gabriel Damaszk, 40, from Durham, are trekking 199 miles across Scotland on The Great Outdoors Challenge.
They are doing it in aid of Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team.
Both are members of the rescue team, which recently featured on the BBC’s Reported Missing documentary.
Mr Damaszk, who works for Durham County Council, was part of the search group that  found missing Darlington pensioner Archie, 82, in the BBC’s third episode, which aired last week. The friends hope that with the support of residents, colleagues, friends and family, they will raise £1,500 to purchase new equipment.
Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team is made up of “professional volunteers” who respond to requests to search for missing and injured people directly from the police.
The team is available 24/7 and is funded mostly by donations.
Mr Damaszk said: “I am excited to be setting off on the challenge and fundraising for the team. We both think it will be the toughest event we have done, with 40,000ft (13,000m) of ascent on our route making it a test of endurance as well as navigation.
“Knowing the money raised will let the team more successfully search for vulnerable people is definitely going to give us an extra reason to complete the trip.”
The Great Outdoors Challenge is a yearly event which began in 1980, where 300 backpackers head off across Scotland from west coast to east, each group choosing their own route through the highlands, with no support teams allowed.
To support the pairs’ challenge,  visit www.justgiving.
com/320kmAcrossScotland