Swindon Town fan Martin Wannell flew the flag for the team all the way from Everest Base Camp.

Martin, 41, who grew up in Royal Wootton Bassett, is part of a team of 36 Tesco staff who trekked to Everest Base Camp to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

They reached base camp on Saturday after trekking 38 miles and are hoping to have raised about £150,000.

Martin’s father, Chris, of Royal Wootton Bassett, said: “He said it was very hard, he said it’s the lack of oxygen that gets you.
“Martin is pretty fit, he goes running and they did a climb up Snowdon to help acclimatise themselves.
“The Everest trek is a 38-mile walk but you can’t go up all the time. You go up so far and then you have to walk back down so you acclimatise to the oxygen levels.”
Martin, who attended Wootton Bassett School, now Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, is general manager of the Didcot depot of the Tesco fresh food distribution centre.

As part of the challenge, the team reached a maximum altitude of 5,500m and temperatures as low as minus 25°C.

They flew out to Kathmandu earlier this month, then to Lukla, and started walking from there.

Martin decided to take the Swindon Town flag.

Chris said: “He has always been a supporter of Swindon Town, as I have and his grandfather also.”

It was expected to take them about three days to get back down.
The team will spend a few days in Kathmandu before arriving back in England on Sunday.

Cancer Research UK was Tesco’s chosen charity last year.
It is the world’s leading charity dedicated to saving lives through research and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease

Tesco has been aiming to raise £10m to help more people survive cancer and keep more families together.

It hopes the money will support the funding of 32 early diagnosis research projects in local communities across the UK, and help reduce people’s anxiety about cancer and encourage them to visit the doctor if they notice anything unusual.