A RESEARCH assistant in York has raised more than £2,000 for a children's charity by climbing the world's highest freestanding mountain.

Rachael McCool, of Heslington, scaled the 19,300ft Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, to raise funds for the Child's i Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping abandoned babies in Uganda.

Despite admitting that she struggled to breath during the initial stage of the seven-day expedition, Rachael, who completed a psychology degree at the University of York, and now works as a research assistant at the York Health Economics Consortium, managed to get to the peak of the summit and described the experience as “absolutely amazing”.

She said: “If anyone ever is thinking about doing this they definitely should. It was the most incredible experience.”

Rachael said that although she was originally earmarked to go with a group she ended up flying solo to Mount Kilimanjaro and there by chance teamed up with a group of American climbers, whom she credited for keeping up her enthusiasm during the climb.

“At one point, at 14,000 feet, one of the guys got out a baseball bat and we had a baseball match which was just surreal,” she said. “It felt like we were playing on the moon.”

Rachael sent off at midnight and it took her five and a half days to reach the top of the summit.

“When we reached the peak it was pitch black but then 15 minutes later the sun started to rise and the views were just incredible,” she said.

“The first day was the hardest,” Rachael, 24, added. “Often I found it hard to catch my breath. But at the same times our guides were singing songs and keeping everyone’s spirits up.”

Rachael, who admitted she never really done any exercise before signing up to the climbing challenge, started running to improve her fitness levels before embarking on her trip. She managed to raise £2,200 for the children’s charity and said she has been overwhelmed by the generosity of her friends who have donated to the cause.

“The support I have received was incredible,” she said. “I had aimed to raise £1,000 and was worried I would not able to achieve that, to reach this target was fantastic.”

Rachael is still collecting funds and you can donate by visiting justgiving.com/Rachael-McCool.