Unfortunately the Everestmax team have been delayed by a couple of days due to a hold up with their Iranian visas. However, the necessary paperwork has now been approved and the cycling team flys to Jordan on Sunday the 18th. Cycling should begin on Wednesday the 21st putting us a few days behind schedule which is not too serious. More disappointing news is that Tarka has had to withdraw from the cycling team due to illness. We wish him a speedy recovery and still hope to see him on the mountain in April.

On Friday the team picked up their bicycles in Cheltenham. Dave, who works for Whyte Bikes, was putting the final stickers on the frames as we arrived and proceded to talk us through the different components, explaining not only why they had been chosen for our expedition but also how to fix them should the need arise. If you would like any more information about the bikes please click here to visit the Whyte Bikes sponsor page.

We also collected kit from polaris who have kitted us out for the cycling phase of the expedition, click here for more details about the polaris support. The shirts from Badger Rubgy arrived too, click here to see them.

Sotheby's very kindly hosted EVERESTMAX on the evening of Tuesday 29th November for their launch in London. It was very successful with well over 180 people in attendance. The team and their guests enjoyed Sotheby's hospitality, talking about the expedition and what it holds in store. Dominic Faulkner gave a 10 minute talk during the evening with the what, how and why of the expedition. It drew particular attention to the charitable aspect of the expedition, observing that while the devastating earthquake in Pakistan has fallen out of the British news there is still a colossal amount of work to be done there before peoples lives will return to some state of normality. For more information about the charity side of EVERESTMAX and how to offer support, please visit the charity and support us pages.

On Saturday 150 people came to Cheltenham to listen to a fascinating talk by Jake Meyer. He spoke very modestly about his huge achievement in reaching the summit of Everest and returning safely. It gave a lot of food for thought, particularly for the team members and their families.

Spirits were high during the dinner and this rolled into the auction, which raised over £4000! In true madman style several of the team ran the Stroud half marathon the next day, Seb coming in first with a time of 1hr 30mins. Jamie arrived 9 mins later and Andre a minute after that berating his last minute decision to run it after a long night of snooker!

Many thanks to all those who helped to organise such a successful event and also to the Cheltenham College staff on duty that evening.

Dinner tickets are now available for the Departure Dinner on Saturday 22nd of October at Cheltenham College. Half of the proceeds from the evening will go directly to the charities, SOS Children's Villages, Practical Action and Merlin. The evening will start with a lecture by Jake Meyer, Seven Summits and there shall be an auction during the dinner with prizes such as an oxygen bottle from the top of Everest signed by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a board room lunch at Sotheby's auction house and sketches of the expedition. If you would like tickets please ring Clair Hayman on 01242 522697. Tickets are priced at £35 for the talk and dinner. Generous disounts are available for tables of 10. For directions to Cheltenham College please click here to link to their website.