Four Blokes on Boots: The 44 Mile Stretcher Carry for Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance

Helipad to Hospital.

RAF Waddington → QMC Nottingham.

What are we up to?

Tony, Calvin, Jason and Matt. 4 blokes carrying a weighted stretcher and walking across a 44 mile route within a day. That’s the challenge, but before we tell you about the challenge, we want to tell you about the person who inspired it.

The Why

Our grandmother, Alice Hill, known to everyone as "Mamma", spent her final days exactly where she wanted to be: at home, surrounded by the people she loved and the things that brought her joy. Her house was full of butterfly ornaments and trinkets collected over a lifetime, more plants than anyone could reasonably keep alive, and walls covered in photographs of her extended family - children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

We lost Mamma to cancer on 10th April 2025.

She had an incredible ability to make people feel loved. Her face would light up whenever family walked through the door, and she never seemed happier than when she was surrounded by the people who mattered most to her. She spent her life giving her time, her attention, and her love to others, never wanting to burden anyone and always wanting to help. One of the ways Mamma helped was by quietly supported causes she believed in throughout her life, the main one being the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance. She donated regularly for many years because she understood the importance of having expert help available when people need it most.

The Challenge

So… onto the challenge. On 15th August 2026, the four of us, brothers Jason and Calvin, alongside cousins Matt and Tony, will attempt to carry a weighted stretcher 44 miles from the helipad of the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance headquarters to Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Sounds simple enough on paper: pick up a stretcher and walk. The reality is slightly different...

We'll be carrying a load that represents the weight of a casualty, covering 44 miles in a single push and aiming to complete the route before nightfall (around 12 hours). The route will finish at QMC, but not before passing through Highfields Playing Fields, mirroring the final journey many air ambulance patients make after landing and being transferred by road to the hospital.

This challenge won't come close to matching what their crews deal with every day, but carrying a stretcher across the East Midlands felt like an appropriate way to recognise the physical and mental effort involved in helping people through some of the most critical moments of their lives.

The Air Ambulance provides a service most of us hope we'll never need, but are incredibly grateful exists when someone's worst day arrives. Unlike many emergency services, they rely solely on charitable donations to keep flying, responding 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The Blokes

We're not entirely new to endurance challenges. Between us we've completed multiple charity bike rides, mountain climbs, half marathons, long-distance cycling adventures, and enough questionable ideas to know that the hardest part of a challenge often reveals itself along the way.

But none of us have ever carried a weighted stretcher for more than a few metres, so nowhere close to 44 miles.

In many ways, this challenge feels fitting because it gives us an reason to do something she valued above almost anything else: bring people together. Over the months ahead we'll be training, fundraising, sharing stories, and no doubt persuading friends and family to get involved. On the day itself, we hope people will join us along the route, support us at checkpoints, and be there at the finish line.

More than anything, we hope it becomes an opportunity for people to spend time together, reconnect, and celebrate the kind of love, generosity, and sense of family that Mamma built around her throughout her life. We know she'd probably think we’re a little crazy for carrying a stretcher for 44 miles, but she'd absolutely love seeing the family together because of it, and knowing that it was going to such a good cause.

How You Can Help

It costs the Air Ambulance on average between £4000 to £5000 per mission. So far in 2026, the average number of missions per day is 5. That’s at least 5 people per day that are getting life-saving treatment and support within minutes. At least 5 families per day that get to bring their loved ones home again. Let’s help to make sure this can continue.

Every penny raised will go directly to Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance and help keep this life-saving service operating across the region.

We will be documenting the journey, and if you think this is something you can get behind and you’ll like to support us, we'd be hugely grateful for any donation, large or small.

This challenge is our way of continuing our Mamma’s support for the Lincolnshire & Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance, and celebrating the selfless person she was.

This challenge is for Mamma.

Thank you for your support,

Jason, Calvin, Tony and Matt.