TWO of Scotland's leading club rugby players are preparing for the challenge of a lifetime when they attempt to climb Africa's three highest mountains in the space of 22 days.
Ricky Munday, 31, and Ally Maclay, 24, are raising money for a Kenyan orphanage, which has recently seen a drastic increase in numbers because of warfare between political factions.
Munday and Maclay, who have both won Scottish Premiership title
s with Glasgow Hawks, were inspired to try to scale Mount Stanley in Uganda, Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania by Scottish businesswoman, Ann Gloag.
She established the Balcraig Foundation to raise money for mothers and children in Africa and has already donated more than £20m in the last three years.
Maclay, a PE teacher and mountaineering novice, has been honing his skills at the Glasgow Climbing Centre, while Munday has climbed in the Himalayas.
"It was heart-breaking to hear of tiny babies being left abandoned on buses and in bus stations, and this was happening on an almost daily basis," said Munday.
"So I came up with the idea of going over there and working in the orphanage from June onwards through to October and anything we can do to help the kids will be terrific.
"We are not underestimating the task; all these mountains are more than 15,000ft to the summit, Kilimanjaro stands at an imposing 19,341 feet, and we will both be spending the next few weeks in the gym, working out, practising with crampons, and covering as many different contingencies as we can."
Munday is organising a series of fundraising events and sponsorship opportunities, including a function at Anniesland, the home of Glasgow Hawks, on June 7, just before his departure.
A website,
www.kilts2 kenya.com, will record every step of their adventure.
The full article contains 307 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
