A team of Royal Oldham Hospital staff have battled the mud on a gruelling 10km assault course to raise funds for a children’s hospice.

Swapping their scrubs for bandanas and shorts, a band of 15 NHS workers, including respiratory doctors and advanced practitioners from The Royal Oldham Hospital, took on the mud-fuelled Born Survivor challenge at Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire.

Racing around the obstacle course designed by the Royal Marine Commandos, they completed their gruelling mission in under three and a half hours and raised £1,680 for Francis House Children’s Hospice which provides respite care to children and young people with life-limiting conditions and support for their family members.

The Oldham Times:

Chest consultant and team member Georges Ng Man Kwong said: “Like all good challenges this started with the idea of undertaking a team event. We called ourselves Oldham Bronchomania relating to our clinical speciality - the lung and airways - and we proudly displayed our name on our T-shirts.”

The group discovered the final and hardest part of the challenge was tackling the Blitz - a 10ft steep climb with 5ft vertical board and no footholds.

Georges said: “We were both mentally and physically drained of energy. It required a team effort to overcome with some of our most determined members trying multiple times and showing true grit and determination to not give up.

“Our team motto at work - applied during the Covid pandemic response and on the day - is ‘no one has all of the answers, that’s why we are a team’.”

The group plan to undertake an equally muddy and gruelling challenge next year and are considering a long-distance walk or even the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

Anyone wanting to take part in fundraising for Francis House can find out more by visiting the charity’s website at www.francishouse.org.uk/get-involved/events/