#shred4cal

Will Neale and Alex Harvey are competing in the Pan Celtic Race 2019 short route. This is a 1326km self supported cycle race with 14336m of accent across the Celtic nations starting in Scotland, heading to Ireland and finishing in Wales.

They are raising money for their efforts and will be donating all proceeds to the Callum Wylie Foundaton. Below, his mother Charly Wylie explains what the foundation is all about:

"Callum was a wonderful young man (biased obviously coz I am his Mum!).

Sport was his thing, the gnarly trails around Betws y Coed his home. He would ride, dig, get muddy, shred dangerously all the time. It was where he was happiest, either with friends or very often on his own. It didn't matter what the weather was like, mostly wet, he would be out there all through the year. Tom Smith a mate couldn't have put his attitude to riding any better... faced with something difficult or extreme on a trail, many would ask "what if? " Callum would ask "why not? " This extended into his freestyle skiing too, not fearless but calculated fearlessness. He loved the mountains wherever he was and an important part of Callum's sports and outdoor life was always to have a packet of Haribos, particularly 'tangfastics'!

Callum needed exercise and the adrenaline rush of downhill MTB and freestyle skiing calmed his overloaded sensory system down, often folk with Aspergers have other difficulties as well, in the medical world this is known as co-morbid presentation. Callum was no exception alongside his Aspergers he also had a sensory processing disorder and high anxiety. He struggled to fit into a world he didn't always understand. Exercise helped relieve his high anxiety. In the end, life became just too confusing for Callum, before took his life he became very depressed. As with many young people he hid his difficulties from most people. Callum's close friends had no idea how bad things had become for him, so when he took his life it completely shocked both his family and friends.

The Callum Wylie Foundation aims to address some of the issues that young people with Aspergers/High functioning autism have. People need to understand the 'hidden' difficulties. Callum masked his turmoil, hid how he felt. He passed at school, college and indeed amongst his friends as just another typical teenager going through a typical adolescent period in his life. Awareness in schools and college is key for teachers & young people to truly understand Aspergers and its co-morbid presentation and 'hidden' struggles.

As parents we had an extremely heartrending and awful time with Callum before he died, we understood how difficult life had become for him but just couldn't access support. Maybe there are no practical solutions, but to go through this terrible time alone, as a parent was truly awful. Another aim for the Foundation is to support parents going through a time of crisis.

Lastly, exercise was the only thing that really helped Callum, it was so important for his mental & physical health. He became very accomplished at certain sports, being 'Aspergers' allowed him a unique way of learning and so excelling in what he loved to do, biking and skiing. The Callum Wylie Foundation would like to enable or encourage young autistic people the opportunities that Callum had, to access sports they have chosen and enjoy."

We hope you can support Will and Alex in their efforts and help support a great cause. Please share and donate!