Ross resident, Deb Kirby, signed up to a charity challenge to help fight breast cancer earlier this year and, thanks to a great deal of fundraising by Deb and her family and friends, she recently completed the trek in Oman. Although she had put in a lot of training Deb said it was harder than she had ever imagined.

She told the Ross Gazette: “I don’t know what I was expecting when I arrived in Oman to take part in the Fabulous Charity Challenge. I signed up because I wanted to do something for the fight against breast cancer and I like a challenge, however this adventure was so much more than I ever could have anticipated. This trek literally turned out to be an experience of blood, sweat and tears.”

She said that the scenery was absolute stunning but the temperature was hotter than expected so they were walking in 38 degrees, which Deb said: “Let me tell you when you are trekking through very steep mountains with no shade, that is seriously hot.”

She added: “We were not so much trekking, as rock scrambling for a very large percentage of time. It was hot, it was sweaty, and emotions were running high as we scaled our daily mountainous trek, often with sheer drops at our side.”

They were literally in the middle of nowhere. She said: “For toilets, it was a case of find the nearest rock and be careful of scorpions (I kid you not). Wet wipes were a necessity, and showers were a dream we could look forward to when the trek had finished. We had no facilities and were camping in the wilderness.

“Some of my team mates encountered a lot of hurdles, including heatstroke, blisters (we had to do a foot check every morning), fear of heights, people passing out from the heat to name a few, but everybody overcame these to all finish the trek together on the most ultimate high, with such sense of triumph, achievement and the most amazing team spirit.”

The team Deb is part of have we have so far raised £223,000 for the charity Coppafeel.

Deb said that she is very grateful to Coppafeel and Fabulous magazine for selecting her, she feels so lucky that she was chosen to take part in this experience with so many inspirational people and proud to have been part of this truly, awesome experience.

“Thank you to every single person who helped me raise money for this event. I am so, so grateful for all the help and support I received from family and friends. This amount of money will make such a difference to Coppafeel and hopefully raise awareness of how important it is to check yourself on a regular basis.”

To see what some of the team endured visit vimeo.com/246783208.