Bob Mulgrew and Andy Wellwood battled illness and injury to complete the Inca Trail, mustering more than £6,000 sponsorship for Marie Curie between them.

The challenge took the pair through the sacred valleys and stunning towns of the Andes, concluding in the city of Machu Picchu in Peru.

"It was tremendous, probably even better than we expected," said Bob, of Rydal Close. "I don't think I could ever go away and just sit on a beach ever again."

"It's a magical place, and the scenery was stunning. The air was so clear and you could see for miles. We had the perfect weather with blue skies every day. We passed quite a few of the Inca ruins, and the higher we got the more dramatic they became. Some were just unbelievable."

The group transport manager for North Anston steel stockists Cogne UK was joined by colleague Andy Wellwood on the adventure.

Bob and Andy, who works in sales, celebrated landmark birthdays this year, turning 50 and 30 respectively. They wanted to mark 2008 with something out of the ordinary.

About 14 trekkers were in the group, raising £40,000 for various good causes overall. The pair agreed that everyone pulled together to make sure the challenge was a success.

"Only me and Andy knew each other, but everyone got on so quickly and gave everyone else support," said Bob. "I was intending to do it anyway, and I'd almost booked it before I came across the Marie Curie website."

A friendly kickaround with local children ended with a trip-threatening leg injury for Bob.

"I play football regularly and know a bit about sports injuries," said Sheffield resident Andy, formerly of Kiveton Park. "I could see it was quite a bad one, but by the same token I knew how determined Bob was to do the trek."

"Later, there was a bug going round the camp that I caught. I felt awful, was losing sleep and couldn't enjoy the last day in Machu Picchu as much as I wanted."

"But it's battling through things like these that gives you even more of a sense of achievement. When we finally reached the peak, it was really quite emotional. We've decided we'd like to do something similar every year."

Marie Cure is one of the country's biggest charities, employing more than 2,700 healthcare workers and helping 27,000 terminally ill patients. It provides free high quality nursing to give people the choice of dying at home supported by their families.

Almost three-quarters of its money comes from fundraising events and challenges like Bob and Andy's adventure.

"Between us we raised over £6,000," said Bob. "It came from colleagues, friends and family and corporate sponsors through work.