2:00pm Friday 14th November 2008
A WOMAN who holds a world record for mountain climbing honoured pupils at a Westcliff school, the first in the country to receive 1,000 Duke of Edinburgh awards since 1991.
Jo Gambi, a Guinness world record holder for the fastest female ascent of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent, was at St Bernards School, Westcliff, for its sports and Duke of Edinburgh awards night.
After helping to present students with 89 sports awards and 112 Duke of Edinburgh awards, Mrs Gambi praised the pupils whom she said were “an impressive bunch”.
Mrs Gambi spoke about her 2005 climb of the summits, including Everest’s North Ridge and a ski trip to the North and South Poles with husband Rob, who at the time was in remission from a second bout of cancer.
The couple went on the expedition having come through some hard times since the disease was first diagnosed in 2000.
She said: “We wanted to spend some time together.
“The first week Rob became critically ill. We were stranded in the Himalayas and we ended up in a very desperate situation. It was his determination to live that pulled him through. He wanted to hang on to life.
“The truth is you have got to want to do it. There is no way we could have done it otherwise. We were passionate about what we wanted to do.”
Mrs Gambi described how they slept in tents in temperatures which dipped to minus 69 degrees.
They used up 10,000 calories a day on the climb and relied on each other for their survival.
Mrs Gambi’s experiences were a good, if extreme, example of the kind of steely determination needed to acquire Duke of Edinburgh awards which include 50-mile treks often in bleak conditions.
In addition, they must be committed to community service and to their own physical and personal development. Few make it to Gold level.
Ann Newcombe, regional director for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, was at the event to present the school with a special award for achieving 1,000 awards since 1991, the only school in the country to do so.
Handing out 70 bronze, 34 silver and eight gold awards, she praised Mike Elmes, head of business studies at the school and organiser of the awards programme. She said: “It’s a fantastic achievement. I have never been asked to present certificates to a school that has achieved 1,000 awards before.
“It goes without saying what fantastic support the school is giving to young people.”
Jo Gambi’s book Holding On – a Story of Love and Survival was published in 2006.
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