Five Daft Lads Dash for Home in aid of Martin House Children's Hospice

Have you ever journeyed across the awe-inspiring A635 between Manchester and Huddersfield? And marvelled on your way at the breathtaking idyllic countryside and gorgeous moor-top views?

Have you ever thought how amazing it would be to run all the way over there, with the wind in your hair and smile on your face, high-fiving your pals as you go? Laughing with glee as you glide past Asda car park in Ashton-under-Lyne and skipping merrily through traffic past Dovestone reservoir?

No? Well we did! Five silly lads from Huddersfield and Barnsley, sat around our pints, giddily bragging about how we thought it'd be a great idea to run it. All the way, from Manchester back to where us lot grew up. You know just for the craic, it'll be easy!

Earlier this year, in that moment of ridiculous macho one-upmanship, we all got overexcited and challenged each other that we'd take it on, despite the glaringly obvious fact that most of us haven't extensively trained for anything physical since our PE GCSEs.

2100 feet of elevation, 50 kilometres, 5 lads and 1 very big hill. Oh, and maybe just a few dozen other hills along the way too, as if that wasn't hard enough!

The jokers attempting this challenge are?

• Rob 'The Whippet' Mynett - Specialising in being annoyingly faster than all of us.
• Joe 'Paula (Radcliffe)' Butcher - Specialising in covert long-distance roadside excretion.
• Jack 'The Milkman' Firth - Specialising in staying fuelled and hydrated en-route solely with milk and cheese.
• Joe 'The Pram-Athlete' Metcalfe - Specialising in still being faster than Bez while pushing a pram.
• Sam 'Ouch-me-knee' Beresford - Specialising in complaining about some minor physical problem as a reason for being the slowest.

On Sunday 20th September 2020 this group of idiots, of broadly mixed ability, are attempting to drag our heels all the way from MCR to HUD. We will be running out from Cotton Field Wharf in Ancoats, the hipster jogging capital of the North, all along the Ashton Canal, then onto the Huddersfield Canal through Tameside, before splintering off for a gentle 1200ft climb up Saddleworth Moor, down into Holmfirth and up (again) into the bosom of Huddersfield's greatest postcode, HD8. Culminating with a dash/hobble/crawl to the finish line, outside everyone's favourite converted cowshed, the Firth family residence in Upper Cumberworth!

Just over 30 miles, all in. Yikes.

It's a long way, we've come to realise that, probably all too late. As we've been talking about trying to conquer it for a long time, and now, beyond the sheer braggadocio of nonchalantly saying we'd do it, we are attempting to raise some funds for a brilliant and worthy cause. So that's it really, can't back out now even if we wanted to. Sorry lads.

We have decided, that there is no better cause for us to raise funds for than Martin House Children's Hospice, a place that is close to our hearts.

Martin House is a hospice in Wetherby that provides family-led care for children and young people with rare life-limiting conditions, as Jack and his family found out over the past year. Cecelia, Jack's niece, was born with a life-limiting condition and sadly passed away shortly after her 1st birthday. Martin House provided incredible support to Cecelia and her parents throughout her short life.

They continue to support families from across West, North and East Yorkshire, both at the hospice and in the community. With a mission to help those children and young people, along with their families, to live well and fully, offering the best possible end of life care and support to the family in bereavement.

To hear more about Cecelia's story and the amazing work that Martin House do, please click the link below:

https://www.martinhouse.org.uk/Cecelia

If you can, please help with a donation, no matter how small.

After all, we need no encouragement, but you could really make a difference to the lives of the families they support.

And a huge thank you from all us daft lads, in advance, for those of you that can help out.

Also, we have invited some guest runners along with us for a few socially distanced miles here and there to keep up morale and distract us from our crumbling legs and waning stamina. So a big shout out to them too!

Wish us luck, because we're certainly going to need it!

Cheers,

The Whippet, Paula Radcliffe, The Milkman, The Pram-Athlete and Ouch-me-knee