A Veteran, who has been fundraising for 8 years in aid of Help for Heroes and has raised nearly £80,000 for the charity, is about to embark on one final challenge…
59-year-old Phil Bartlett, from Spennymoor, County Durham, is planning to run 268 miles in just 18 days. With this event, he aims to take his total amount raised for the military charity to over £100,00.
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Phil will be starting and ending his mammoth run from Help for Heroes Recovery Centres. He will commence his challenge from the garrison town of Colchester and will finish up in Catterick on his 60th birthday. Phil will be running an average of 15 miles a day.
He said: “Training has been a little hit and miss. I have had a few minor injuries that have not allowed me to do as many miles as I would have liked. I am at this moment recovering from a small tear in my hamstring and have done no training for a while but doing conditioning exercises daily.
“Despite this, I feel excited to be doing this. Whether my body will hold out we will have to wait and see! At aged 59 years old this is the biggest challenge I’ve attempted”.
Phil joined the Royal Corps of Transport in 1974. After tours in Germany, Northern Ireland, Canada and the Falklands Phil left the army in 1991 having reached the rank of corporal. This experience of the military prompted Phil to raise money in aid of Help for Heroes.
“When you join the Armed Forces you become a member of a family. You may not know them all but family they still are. When members of that family need support you try to do your best to help them. I feel that I have an obligation to support them in any way I can”.
A spokesperson for Help for Heroes said: “We are so grateful to all our fundraisers. With 7 people a day being medically discharged from the military Help for Heroes still has a big role to play in supporting our wounded, injured and sick veterans.
“We believe that those who put their lives second deserve a second chance at life. Our specialist teams here at Colchester Recovery Centre create the conditions for our heroes and their families to recover and move forward with their lives”.
You can follow Phil’s journey here.
If you would like to donate to Phil’s JustGiving page, click here.
