The efforts of a 12-man team of serving and ex-military and police personnel from across Wales have succeeded in raising a staggering £78,000 for the charity, Help for Heroes.
Last May the team embarked on a ten-day, 1,283-mile journey across the UK, cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End; scaling the highest peaks in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, and Wales and rowing across the Irish Sea twice, they completed the challenge with amass skydive into Swansea.
The quest was even more remarkable given that the team included several amputees, injured while on active service in Afghanistan, today saw the cheque presented to Help for Heroes.
G4S donated £10,000 to the challenge and provided support worth an additional £20,000. Three G4S employees, Police Custody Detention Officers accompanied the team throughout the ten-day challenge, using a Land Rover provided by G4S and Hitachi Capital.
Peter Bowker, one of the disabled participants, said: “I wanted to get involved mainly because of the physical and mental challenge. I trained every weekend in the lead up, cycling about 100 miles. I was most nervous about skydiving in to Swansea at the end but I am thrilled I completed it”
Event Organiser, PC Richard Morgan, said:
“I wanted to do this challenge because it was unique and something different to what has been the norm for endurance events to date. The logistics of the event were crucial to its success. We are grateful to our sponsors who have helped us make this Heroes Challenge UK a reality and to everyone who has donated.”
The team are now training for their next challenge 65 Degrees North 2015, which will be the worlds’ first unsupported crossing of the Greenland icecap by an amputee.
