Justin Broadley has set a new record for the Lion 500 team as part of their 24 Hour Endurance Challenge. The hiker summited Lion’s Head Mountain 16 times in 17 hours and 12 minutes on Saturday, December 5.
He began his great trek up the mountain at 4.30am, and ended around 10pm. On the day, the blazing sun and weekend traffic made this hike anything but a walk in the park. Due to the busy trail, Broadley ended up having to skip the staples and chains and do four summits the long way round, which is an extra 300m.
Throughout the day, his girlfriend, friends and family cheered him to victory.
Broadley’s new record replaces former titleholder Jean-Michel Victor from team Lion 500, who summited the same mountain 13 times in 23 hours.
In fact, Broadley was inspired to create a new record after seeing news articles about Victor’s summit.
“My competitiveness kicked in and I thought to myself I could do that, from then on it was game on!” he told Lion 500.
It’s not only for pride, however. Broadley also made the climb to raise funds for Heaven’s Nest Orphanage, for which he raised R24 000 on the day.
“It is such a treat to see the feats and efforts of team Lion 500 being noticed by such passionate people. One of the many purposes of Lion 500 is to give people a sense of purpose and be stronger, go further, higher, faster and inspire others to get out of their comfort zones no matter how big or small your comfort zone bubble is,” wrote Lion 500 in a Facebook post.
“Justin kept going for 16 summits because of competitiveness, feeling a sense of achievement and for the love of the mountain. Justin says he learned great lessons. The key lesson was if you put your mind and effort into something, you will definitely succeed in one way or another.”
Lion 500 now plans to set up an endurance race between Victor, Broadley and three other challengers.
“The idea is to limit this endurance challenge to five participants and keep it simple and safe. Each participant will raise funds for their chosen charity and aim to raise over R100 000,” the team explains.
If you know of anybody willing to take on the 24 Hour Endurance Challenge on Lion’s Head, send Lion 500 a direct/private message.
If you want to donate to Broadley’s causes, you can contact him directly on WhatsApp on 082 422 4778
Picture/s: Facebook / Lion 500