Portsmouth trio hope to summit Kilimanjaro on New Year's Day

Sisters Pauline and Sue Jenkins will be jetting off tomorrow with friend Tracey Routh to begin their week-long adventure in Africa, which will see them climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The 4,350-mile trip is all part of the women’s five-year fundraising quest to help raise £10,000 for a brave two year-old boy with cystic fibrosis.

They will land in Tanzania on Christmas Day, and will set off on their ascent of the imposing mountain, which sits 5,895m above sea level, on Boxing Day.

The aim is for the trio to summit Kilimanjaro on New Year’s Day, where they will take a picture and celebrate.

Pauline, 42, of Hilsea Crescent, Hilsea, has been the driving force behind the campaign.

She said: ‘We’re doing this for my friend’s little boy, Jensen Durham.

‘He was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis a year ago and he is going to have to deal with this for the rest of his life.

‘So I promised to do a five-year campaign to raise £10,000. In just under a year we have raised almost £5,000.

‘This challenge is our biggest one yet.’

The money raised will be placed into a trust fund which will go towards paying for Jensen’s expenses during treatment.

So far the team’s fundraising campaign has already seen them tackling various events, including an I’m A Celebrity-inspired eating challenge.

But to prepare themselves for their epic climb, the friends have been training for months.

Pauline’s sister Sue, of Eastern Parade, Southsea, said the trio were ready to tackle Kilimanjaro.

Earlier in the year they climbed one of Britain’s highest mountains, Mount Snowdon, back to back over two days to test their hiking ability.

Sue said: ‘It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But it wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be.’

Speaking of Kilimanjaro, Sue added the altitude would be the toughest obstacle to overcome.

‘That’s something you just can’t prepare for in Portsmouth,’ she said.

‘But we’re all pretty stubborn so we won’t let this beat us.’

To donate see justgiving.com/fundraising/Pauline-Jenkins2