A KESWICK family has organised a ‘10 in 10 Challenge’ to raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis.

Next month, hundreds of people from across Britain will take to the fells to raise money for research into the debilitating disease.

And the event has just had a timely boost - during national MS Week - that the leading outdoor brand, Berghaus, will be its sponsor after a request from the mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington.

Yvonne Booth, mother of three boys and wife of local primary school teacher Duncan, decided to organise the ‘10 in 10 Challenge’ after her husband was diagnosed with MS in June 2010.

Last summer saw the inaugural event above Buttermere in which 120 participants raised £24,000. As the walkers took to the skyline, Duncan took to the water and swam across ten lakes. His brother Simon Booth, a one-time British fell running champion, did himself proud too by completing the challenge as a run in two and a half hours.

This year’s event takes place on Saturday June 23 2012 when 150 walkers will leave the Swinside Inn, in the Newlands Valley, at 6.30am and head up the first peak - Causey Pike followed by Sail, Crag Hill, Wandope, Whiteless Pike, High Snockrigg, Robinson, Dale Head, High Spy and Maiden Moor.

Mrs Booth said: ”The ten peak challenge, to be completed in ten hours, is a charity event to raise money for the MS Society to use for research into Multiple Sclerosis. It’s not a competition, just a challenge, and it is encouraging to see so many people in training for this year’s event. I hope one day the MS Society find a cure for this nasty, debilitating and unpredictable disease. We’re so grateful to Sir Chris Bonington, who is fully supporting the event and kindly asked Berghaus to sponsor it.”

Before MS struck, Duncan Booth was a very keen climber and Alpinist. His illness has affected his balance and so he has swapped climbing mountains for more aquatic pursuits of open water swimming and sculling.

Duncan noticed after his diagnosis that taking a dip in a cold lake had quite a positive effect on the feeling in his legs. He got equipped with wetsuit and goggles and began swimming every day in the local lakes. Duncan now swims all year round and had to break the ice in order to get in throughout December of last year.

Not wishing to be left out of the 10 in 10 challenge 2012, Duncan has hatched a plan to scull up and down Derwentwater throughout the night staring on Friday June 22. He will attempt to clock as many kilometres as possible in his Sculling boat during the 10 hours. Good balance is a requirement of successful sculling but this has not put Duncan off the challenge and he is more than happy to fall in a cold lake.

He has been trying to master the art of sculling for the past six months and has gone from really quite terrible, to not quite as bad.

After the event Duncan will be celebrating with a pint at the Swinside Inn and hopes all the participants of the 10 in 10 will join him in celebrating their success. They will be able to enjoy a BBQ and live music.