It was an unbelievably tough weekend of heat and pain... so begins Lodovico de Briganti's report of how he helped raise $620,000 for the Smith Family.

The managing director of EidosMedia's Australian operation is an old hand on the three-day fundraising challenge, but that didn't make it any less demanding.

It started with an early 50-minute drive to Wentworth Falls, in Australia's Blue Mountains, "knowing that we would have to trek the same distance back to camp again".

Thick forest tracks, the beautiful Falls - with spectacular views of the Blue Mountains - and a 40 km bike ride and a 90-minute rogaine "separated the men from the boys but surprisingly not Team Blood and Bone from the rest of the field," de Briganti says.

"While some groups decided that a compass was an unnecessary tool, we were spot on most of the time and managed to keep up with faster groups who spent valuable time looking for the checkpoints, often in the wrong places. Until of course we made that one wrong turn... "deflating emotionally", but shrugged off as a bit of bad luck.

A surprise activity for the second day was abseiling: "Lucky we were only scared of heights and ropes," says de Briganti.

"When it came time to harness up and get ready to descend the cliff, a few deep breaths were needed in order to proceed. Why would anyone in their right mind leave the safety of a flat surface to drop over into the abyss and risk falling to a horrible and painful demise?"

But he says pushing themselves to the limit, up the sand and the slopes and finally to a popular mountain bike track was "probably the most enjoyable activity of the last five years", albeit with very little room for error.

Challengers arrived back to the cheers of all the other competitors and a few families who are the recipients of the Learning for Life Programme.

"It was a very rewarding and humbling reminder of how lucky so many of us are in life and that we should never take anything for granted," he says.

Recovery included a cold beer and a dip in the jelly bean pool to relax the old bones and wash off all the dirt, sweat and blood... enjoy some drinks, a cigar and some pretty poor dancing around Tobin's Bar before heading home.

"Sore bodies or not it was another great year and thanks to our sponsors, we have been able to raise close to $620,000, a huge record that will enable more than 1100 kids get a better start to their life and education next year. Grazie mille!"

Go to https://thesmithfamilychallenge.com.au/search.html?kw=lodovico to add to the Challenge total and find out more.