In September myself, Neil Harvey and Josef Wolstencroft will be attempting 3 ultra marathons in 3 days raising funds for Prostate Cancer UK in memory and celebration of Simon ‘Sloppy’ Heslop our close and much loved friend of many years.

Starting from Leeds Rhinos Headingley Stadium we will be running to the Brick Stadium, home of Simon’s heroes the Wigan Warriors. We will mainly follow a route along the Leeds-Liverpool canal covering a total distance of approximately 95 miles.

We will be joined by the cycling/entertainments team comprising of Tony Cunningham, Andrew Atherton and Martin Wolstencroft; and Steve Ricketts will be travelling from his home in Norway to run the final day with us.

We first met Simon in the late 1980s when he moved from Wigan to study at Leeds Polytechnic. Along with several others who then settled in the Leeds area we remained firm friends ever since.

Despite being very humble by nature, Simon was an enthusiastic and talented sportsman. He captained the all conquering Leeds Poly Rugby League team and represented England and Great Britain at student level. He was also briefly on the books of Halifax RLFC, before deciding instead to spend the winter months working in Andorra whilst pursuing his favourite sport of skiing.

In later years he was a keen cyclist, marathon runner, hiker, fresh water swimmer and even had a dabble at being a strictly come dancing-er.

He was an avid fan of many weird and wonderful sports, particularly those involving endurance. If you ever needed a detailed lowdown on the Nordic Combined World Championships, he was your man. Explanations always delivered with a wry smile, rapidly evolving into trademark belly laugh at the astonished look on your face that someone could be so well versed in such matters.

Whilst for us this event is primarily a celebration of friendship, any donations for the great and worthy work that Prostate Cancer UK do will be more than welcomed and gratefully accepted.