Climbing the Montgó to help find the cure for Type 1 Diabetes

Four team members from Specsavers Ópticas in Javea are taking on the challenge to climb Javea’s iconic Montgó mountain on Sunday 26th May to raise funds for DiabetesCERO. They will be climbing to the highest point, Cruz de Xabia, over 750 metres above sea level. They are inviting other keen hikers to join them for the climb, in exchange for a donation to the charity and have also set up a Go Fund Me page for people to sponsor them, with the aim of raising at least €250 for the charity.

DiabetesCERO is the leading Spanish foundation investing in research into a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Thanks to the support of thousands of people and companies around the world, they support and finance biomedical research projects to find a cure for this serious disease, diagnosed mainly in children. Specsavers Ópticas has pledged to raise €5,000 for this charity in 2024 and this charity hike is the Javea team’s activity to get their fundraising under way.

The Montgó is part of the 21 square kilometre natural park, which boasts beautiful wild flowers and stunning scenery. They will be hiking an 8.4km route, from St Jeroni car park to the Cruz de Xabia, which is a moderate to hard level walk expected to take 3-4 hours to complete. It is quite steep and rocky at the end and the walkers will need to have a head for heights, but it’s a very rewarding hike and they’ll be raising money for a fantastic cause.  

Optometrists Martín Barrera and María Martín, Optical Assistant Gracie Glister and Rosie Segger, all from Specsavers Ópticas Javea, decided to take on this challenge on behalf of the store. They said that they chose to climb Montgó as it is synonymous with Javea where they all live and work and is quite a challenge to summit. Thankfully you don’t have to be an expert climber to reach the summit, but it does require a decent level of fitness and some climbing at the end of the hike. They’d love to get a group of walkers together to climb it with them and are asking people to make a small donation to their charity DiabetesCERO to take part. If you’d like to support this challenge from the comfort of your own couch, you can sponsor them via Go Fund Me by clicking on this link or searching for Charity Hike Montgo in www.gofundme.com.

Store director Cecilia Navarro Tudela said “We are very pleased that Martin is leading a group to climb the Montgó to support our charity DiabetesCERO. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of vision loss, so we’re delighted to be raising money for a diabetes research foundation which is searching for a cure. We hope that people will get behind the team to help us raise as much as possible. We’ll be preparing goodie bags as a thank you to all participants who join the hike“.

If you’d like to join Martín, María, Gracie and Rosie to climb Montgó, they will be meeting at the St Jeroni Carpark on the CV-736 highway between Javea and Denia, at 8.30am and setting off at 9am. Please confirm your attendance on the Facebook event or by emailing spain.marketing@specsavers.com so the team can prepare enough goodie bags. Wear hiking shoes and bring water, snacks, sunscreen, a hat and small donation for DiabetesCERO.

You can also sponsor the team to compete the hike on Go Fund Me, or drop in a donation into the collection tin in store. You can find Specsavers Ópticas Javea just off the Carretera Cabo la Nao-Pla, near Servicolor, at Avenida Del Pla 125, Edificio Caribe, Local 6, Jávea, 03730.