Last weekend Josh Braid from Hurst walked the 170km South Downs Way 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.
And last weekend saw his latest challenge when Josh and his wife Francesca walked the whole distance of the South Downs Way, just over 170km, from Winchester to Eastbourne. And not only that, but Josh also pulled a 12kg tyre behind him for the whole journey.
Josh with his tyre on the South Downs
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 wanted 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 set off on Thursday 3 June from Winchester with his wife Francesca who was raising money for Street Vet. Despite one day of awful weather, they managed to cover around 40km, or 25 miles, each day: the equivalent to four marathon distances back-to-back!
Josh and Francesca being welcomed by their daughters at the finish line
After completing the challenge, Josh was proud of what he and Francesca had achieved: “It was such a privilege to walk the South Downs Way to raise money for Rockinghorse and Street Vet. Four marathons in four days certainly took its toll on our bodies but we are delighted to make it to the end and hopefully raise as much money for these fantastic charities.”
So far Josh has raised over £3,000 but is hoping for more. The company he works for, Knight Frank, donated £500 and helped him with some of the kit for his trek but he would love to raise a few thousand pounds for Rockinghorse.
So, if you would like to sponsor Josh all you need to do is head over to his Just Giving Page here. Or to donate to Street Vet, Francesca’s chosen charity, just visit here page here.
Well done to Josh and Francesca on completing this mammoth task and for raising so much money for local charities.
