A HUNTER man will scale the height of Mount Everest over the long weekend in a mammoth effort to raise money for the Cancer Council.
46-year-old Mark Hoult is embarking on a challenge known as "Everesting".
Starting from Hickson Street Lookout at 3pm Saturday, June 11, Mr Hoult will hike non-stop laps of the hill into Glenrock until he has reached the equivalent elevation of Mount Everest.
"Everest is 8848 metres and the hill is about 79," Mr Hoult said.
"So I'm allowing between 113 and 120 laps to get the job done and between 20 and 24 hours.
"I'm feeling pretty comfortable considering. I'm not nervous at all really, just want to get it done."
Mr Hoult, a project manager from Raworth, has been involved in ironman and triathlon events since he was in school. Recently he has started Ultra-Trail running.
"I initially planned on doing an Ultra-Trail run in the Blue Mountains in May but unfortunately that was postponed due to the floods," he said.
"Everesting is a great opportunity for me to push my body and see what I can achieve."
Mr Hoult does 30km to 40km runs every weeks but says the key to endurance events is "80 per cent mental".
"You really have to work on strategies to get yourself out of that pain cave and push on. From about 5000m I think it will start to get really hard," he said.
"Not only am I challenging myself but also raising money for a great cause."
Having lost his mother to cancer 30 years ago, Mr Hoult is attempting to raise $8848 for the Cancer Council NSW through the run, of which he has already got more than $8000.
"I've had some great sponsor like Business Risk Solutions, Gamble and Brown and Talwind Australia. I've also had a lot of help from Hunter Physio."
Mr Hoult hopes to finish the run by 3pm Sunday and will be pushed by friends who have committed to doing one to two hour stints with him throughout the night.
