Advertisement

Taylor battered and bruised but a victor in Wooden Spoon Everest challenge

Sportsbeat
Taylor joined fellow rugby players including Shane Williams on the challenge
Taylor joined fellow rugby players including Shane Williams on the challenge

Tamara Taylor became a double World Record-breaker on Mount Everest with rugby charity Wooden Spoon last week – but it could have been so different.

The England Women ace, from Exeter and now based in the north-east, has won 115 caps for her country but nothing could prepare her for the challenge of the world’s highest mountain.

The 2014 Rugby World Cup winner, team captain for the challenge alongside Shane Williams, Ollie Phillips and Lee Mears, was barely able to continue when the group reached 6,000m altitude.

It was an all-day hike to Advanced Base Camp, a 13-hour journey to 6,200m altitude with no food on route, that nearly proved too much for Taylor.

“I haven’t ever felt anything like that powerlessness over my own body,” she said.

“I had an ankle reconstruction over the summer and that’s the only thing that’s come close.

“I had to stop every couple of steps to catch my breath and the boys thought I needed oxygen, but the Sherpa had run out and he couldn’t get radio signal.

“Two Sherpas eventually had to be radioed over and they effectively carried me up to Advanced Base Camp.”

Taylor pulled through within a day and soon stepped in to act as referee on East Rongbuk Glacier for the highest-ever game of full contact rugby ever played.

This was the second Guinness World Record broken by the group after they played the highest-ever game of touch rugby at Intermediate Base Camp.

And the 37-year-old is swelling with pride after the challenge rose over £250,000 in donations to Wooden Spoon, which will be used to support charitable children’s projects around the UK and Ireland.

“I’m so proud, but it hasn’t sunk in yet and I don’t think it will for a while,” she said.

“It’s definitely one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, physically and mentally.

“It doesn’t matter how many training sessions and physical tests I’ve done with rugby, it was impossible to prepare for the impact of the altitude sickness.

“We had six women on the challenge and they were just fantastic. We were outnumbered but it was a real honour to be asked to be one of the captains and represent all those women’s players out there.”

Visit everestrugby.org.uk to see how you can get involved and Climb Your Own Everest. Donations can be made via the same link or by texting EVEREST5 to 70085 to donate £5