six year old wainwright conquerer
A six-year-old boy is reputedly the youngest person to have
climbed all 214 Wainwrights in the Lake District.
The youngster, Ben Fleetwood from Selside, near Cumbria climbed
the mountains with his father completing more than 135,000 feet of
climbing along the way and finishing at the summit of Tarn Crag. The
youngster reached his first top, Longmoor, when he was just two.
According to the Telegraph
though, John Burland, a spokesman for the Wainwright Society, said:
"Until it's been ratified by the committee from the society, we're
not prepared to acknowledge the claim."
Which rather begs the question of how you prove you've reached the
top of every one of the Wainwrights. Clearly it's not impossible
since the current record holder Kerry Regan - according to the
Society's web site - was just seven years and nine months old when
she reached the top of her final fell having started at the age of
three years and two months.
Worryingly, Kerry's younger brother, Robin who is just four has
already embarked on his Wainwright-bagging way, so the record may go
younger still in the future...
Wainwright Society web site at www.wainwright.org.uk.
