Josh and Francesca Braid from Hurst are walking the South Downs Way over four days to raise money for Rockinghorse…Pulling a tyre the whole way!
Josh Braid certainly isn’t frightened of a challenge. In the recent years he has taken on a range of charity fundraisers but this year he has really decided to push himself.
Over the weekend of 3 – 6 June, Josh will be walking the whole distance of the South Downs Way, just over 170km, from Winchester to Eastbourne. And not only that, but he will also be pulling a 12kg tyre behind him the whole way!
As Josh explains: “Pre-COVID I was planning to climb Europe’s highest mountain in Russia but obviously that was cancelled. My next plan is to go to the South Pole but as I won’t be able to do that for a while, I wanted to try and find a challenge that would help me prepare.
“Obviously at the Pole I will be skiing and pulling a sledge behind me but I can’t really do that in the UK so I thought that pulling a tyre might be a good replacement and help prepare me a little more for the real thing.”
Josh also wants to use this challenge as a way of raising money for his local children’s charity: “I have two young daughters and whilst they are lucky enough not to have experienced any serious medical issues, we recognise the incredibly important work that Rockinghorse does to support families who are experiencing serious illness and going through treatment.
Which is why I wanted to raise money for the charity and help them continue this support for local children.”
Josh will be setting off on Thursday 3 June from Winchester and will be joined by his wife Francesca who is raising money for StreetVet. They will be aiming to cover around 40km, or 25 miles, each day; the equivalent to four marathon distances back-to-back!
So far Josh has raised over £1,500 but is hoping for more. The company he works for, Knight Frank, has donated £500 and helped him with some of the kit for his trek but he is aiming to raise a few thousand pounds by the time he completes the distance.
So, if you would like to sponsor Josh all you need to do is head over to his Just Giving Page at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/josh-braid7
Good luck to Josh and Francesca!
