Everton's Head Groundsman Reaches New Heights

Everton Football Club's Head Groundsman, Bob Lennon, recently conquered Mount Kilimanjaro, helping to raise £28,500 for 'Everton in the Community', in the process.

As part of a team raising money for the charity, Bob (pictured far-right in photo) completed the six-day trek to the summit, at the end of January.

Rigby Taylor was the first to sponsor Bob and also supplied him with some outdoor clothing for the hike, which took him through desert, mud, jungle, heath land, 35mph winds and snow.

Bob explained how the team took a spiral route around the Tanzanian mountain so as to acclimatise to the height, but even with these precautions altitude sickness became an unwelcome visitor.

He said: "The altitude was a leveller. It's like when you've got really bad flu, with a bad headache and you're so lethargic, you don't feel like eating."

In preparation for Kilimanjaro, Bob had trained for a year and had climbed Mount Snowdon, Ben Nevis and several other UK mountains to ensure he was on top of his game come the big one.

He added that any hardships endured on the way up were well worth it for the experience of tackling the highest freestanding mountain in the world.

"It was so windy at the top, and about -25 degrees, absolutely bitter, but you're standing at the summit and all around it's like a blanket with the cloud below you.

If someone sponsored me to climb Kilimanjaro again, I would do it without thinking."