A South Yorkshire emergency service has scooped a top prize which will get their 2009 fundraising off to a flying start.

Edale Mountain Rescue Team has been crowned Team of the Year by safety expert Goodyear, an accolade which will see them receive a £2000 donation to be spent on safety equipment, courtesy of the tyre giant.

Goodyear, official safety partners of Mountain Rescue England & Wales, launched the campaign to highlight the fantastic work done by search and rescue teams across the country. Teams were profiled on the website www.mygoodyear.co.uk and the public were invited to vote for the team who they felt were most deserving of the additional donation.

Since being shortlisted for the award at the end of 2008, the team at Edale has successfully rallied support amongst the local community to ensure that they scooped the prize.

Neil Chapman, spokesman for Edale said: "We're delighted to have received this donation, and can't thank Goodyear enough.

"Like all Mountain Rescue teams, our members participate voluntarily. We also receive no government funding, therefore donations such as these are vital to maintain our high standards".

The Team is currently replacing one of its aging Land Rover ambulances at a total cost of almost £50,000. The prize money will therefore be used to purchase new communications equipment including a radio and satellite phone for the new vehicle.

Anna Stanley, communications specialist at Goodyear commented: "Goodyear take safety extremely seriously, and we're very pleased to have been able to make this donation to help improve the quality of the service that Edale provides.

"We're aware that all Mountain Rescue teams do a fantastic job and provide a vital service in their own areas. By running this competition, we've successfully been able to raise awareness of teams locally which will hopefully benefit their fundraising efforts in 2009".

As part of the partnership with Mountain Rescue, Goodyear has pledged to support the roll out of GPS navigational equipment for all teams. The company has also made sets of its Wrangler MT/R tyres available to teams for use on their rescue vehicles, to ensure that safety is not compromised.

Neil added: "We're extremely grateful to Goodyear for this donation which will undoubtedly help us to improve the service we provide to people across South Yorkshire".

In addition to their win, the members of Edale Mountain Rescue are soon to be stars of the small screen, appearing in an ITV documentary, Total Emergency, which will air over the coming weeks.

For more information on the partnership visit www.mygoodyear.co.uk

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