Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I'm challenging myself to complete a hike of the Welsh 3 Peaks in 24 hours, with my friends and colleagues at Skills and Training, Neath Port Talbot CBC. I'm also challenging my friends and colleagues to spend 24 hours (and more) in my company :-)

The 3 peaks are Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen Y Fan. Starting at 4am, we will start the trek up Snowdon (PYG or Miners Path), followed by Cadair Idris (Pony Path). A drive down to South Wales will see us start Pen Y Fan (Pont Ar Daf Path) before 7pm (hopefully), completing the challenge no later than 10pm!  The maths experts amongst you will notice that's only 18 hours, and I've just realised what I'm letting myself in for.

So why the Stroke Association? Well both my Mam and Dad suffered strokes, so I guess it's personal. I also remember growing up (in the 1970's) living next door to a lovely old couple (Mr & Mrs Pike), where Mrs Pike was a stroke survivor. As a child I was scared of her, because I didn't understand why she couldn't speak or walk properly. I don't know if she suffered (she didn't show it), but I also didn't know how much Mr Pike had to go through caring for her. It must have been hard, but again he didn't show it. I sometimes think it was a blessing my parents didn't survive the strokes - as hard as it was to lose them - I take solace in the fact they didn't suffer. 

The Stroke Association believe in life after stroke as well as stroke prevention, yet while stroke is the 3rd biggest killer in the UK, medical research into it is seriously underfunded compared to (for example) cancer research, less than 10% per patient.

 Now I am going to personally benefit from this challenge, whether I complete it or not. It's a chance to cement friendships and camaraderie, improve my fitness and show my colleagues I'm not just a miserable git whinging about data quality :-).  It would be nice for others to benefit from it too. So give if you can, but don't worry if you can't.

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