On the 14th April, Tamara Taylor and 24 other challengers set out for Chengdu, and on into Tibet to reach Mount Everest. Their challenge was to break 2 World records for the highest games of touch rugby and contact rugby, while raising money for Wooden Spoon, the children’s charity of rugby. Taylor was set to captain one of the teams in the touch, and referee the contact game with an individual fundraising target of £10,000 to help support projects locally for disadvantaged and disabled kids.

The group spent 13 nights camping on the mountain with temperatures dropping to -25 overnight, and hiked for over 9 hours on acclimatisation walks and to take them to their final destination of advanced base camp, the highest point non climbers can go on the north side of Mount Everest.

World Record No. 1

On the 25th April, Tamara Taylor and Ollie Phillips’ team took on Shane Williams and Lee Mears’ team in a game of touch rugby on a glacier at Everest Base camp.

Taylor says “Everyone was absolutely buzzing to play the game, the pitch was set up on a snowy, rocky, icy area just to the side of the tents, we had the referee briefing, coin toss, and then we were off! You can imagine how competitive everyone got!” The game ended 3-3 with a slightly controversial try from Ollie Phillips. “The referee’s decision is final” says Taylor, “and rugby was the winner”.

The group then spent 2 days trekking up another 1500m in altitude stopping over night at Intermediate camp, a cluster of tents on the side of a mountain. The group were exhausted when they arrived as the sun set, and many of the challengers were feeling the debilitating effects of altitude sickness.

“A number of the group were having trouble breathing, headaches just became a daily norm, and a few of the guys were really struggling with bad bellies and sickness, trust me, a mountain is not the place you want to be when you need the toilet every hour!”

The final trek to advanced base camp was a grueling 9 hours, Taylor recalls the difficulty she had towards the end of the climb “I had been feeling sick most of the day, and apart from 2 boiled eggs at 7am, I hadn’t eaten anything. The final couple of hours, I found myself walking slower and slower, struggling to keep my legs moving, and I was starting to lose my vision. I kept telling myself to just take 10 steps at time and then rest, but I couldn’t even mange that” Taylor was supported the last few hundred meters by two of the Sherpas, who carried her to the medical tent where she received oxygen and further anti sickness medication.

“That was definitely one of my low points,” says the second row “although I had finally made it to advanced base camp, I was really worried that I wasn’t going to be able to referee the game. I didn’t want to let the team down, we were already low on numbers for the 2nd world record attempt, and you can’t have a game without a referee.”

6 members of the group had already had to return home due to altitude sickness and another member was starting to deteriorate, by the time the game was played on the 30th April, the team of 25 had reduced to 18, 4 of whom were females, and therefore not playing in the contact game. (To be sanctioned as a world record, the game had to be World Rugby approved, single sex, so the females in the party officiated the game) In a game of 7 a side, at an altitude of over 6300m above sea level, the teams were going to need more than 7 players, up stepped Andre, an ex-Northampton Saints player and mountaineer who was preparing to summit Everest, and three Sherpas fresh from a coaching session.

World Record No. 2

The setting of the pitch was the middle of the Rombook glacier, surrounded by mountains and ice fields. The group trekked for over an hour to reach the venue, and spent almost two hours setting up the full sized pitch, including pitch markings and posts. The game ended 5 all, with tent buddies Ollie Phillips and Rob Callaway both scoring unconverted tries and the following day, the party trekked back to base camp to have a well-deserved celebratory snickers bar.

Reflecting on the challenge Taylor says “It has to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Mentally and physically I felt broken at times, but the group really pulled together when we needed to, and ultimately, if you are going to do something to raise money for charity, you want it to be a real challenge… and that’s certainly what this was.”

The challengers have raised around £300,000 for Wooden Spoon with money still coming in.

If you have been inspired by Tamara’s story, you can still donate at www.virginmoney giving.com/tamarataylor or buy a bespoke Wooden Spoon mouthguard from OPRO, with £10 going directly to the charity.