Keswick to Barrow 2010
Last updated at 15:33, Friday, 14 May 2010
A BEAUTIFUL sunny day made for perfect walking conditions for the Keswick to Barrow 2010.
Runners, walkers and hand cyclists set off on the 40-mile sponsored trek from 6am on Saturday to raise money for various charities.
The first runner back, Garry Dixon, completed the course in four hours 17 minutes.
The first record of the day was by two hand cyclists, who came in at three hours 47 minutes.
Geoff Marshall and Andy Chamings agreed in the last 300 metres to cross the finish line together.
Mr Chamings said: “The previous fastest time was just under four hours, but we had a tail wind and I had to catch Geoff up.
“We are raising money for WhizzKids, which is a charity that gets specialist equipment for disabled children – wheelchairs in particular – but other access equipment too. It’s usually very, very expensive and a lot of disabled kids and their families simply don’t have the money to get good equipment, so the charity helps them with that.
“We’ve both got spinal cord injuries so we’ve got a bit of experience using wheelchairs and we know how much they cost. It’s just something that’s a bit closer to our life experiences, really.”
Due to the Barrow AFC match at Wembley, organisers saw around 600 competitors drop out.
Neil Tyson, K2B secretary, said: “I feel a little bit disappointed really. I was at Wembley in 1990 and it was a fantastic day out. I would have been there this year had it not been for this event. A lot of people have talked about re-scheduling the K2B, but what people might not realise is the amount of organisation that goes into it.
“We’ve got 150 volunteers and we’ve got people that have come from away, who have booked into hotels and booked their transport, so you can’t just go and shift the date.
“What we said to the people who dropped out because of the football was to let us know early, then they could have first reserve for taking part next year. We want to get support for Wembley as well. We’ve put a big screen up, with the match on, and a lot of the walkers are saying that they’re going to make it back for 3pm so they can watch it.”
The first woman back was Fiona Taylor, from Newcastle, in five hours 42 minutes. As part of a group sponsored by the Armed Forces at university, Miss Taylor was supporting Help for Heroes.
She said: “I’m sore and tired but it was worth it. Our team is from a military-sponsored squadron, so it means a lot to us and we want some money to go to that.”
Christopher Axon, also supporting Help for Heroes, only ran the London Marathon two weeks ago and still managed to get a time of five hours 25 minutes.
He said: “I raised over £700 for Help for Heroes doing the London Marathon and I came to the K2B to raise a bit more money. I got two hours 54 minutes on the London Marathon, so today I just wanted to finish. I’m over the moon with my time.
“When I finish my degree, I’ll hopefully be going to Sandhurst to do initial officer training and hopefully get a commission and go into the army, so I suppose I wanted to look out for my future co-workers.”
Ian Walker came from Portsmouth for the event and was the first to make it back for his Royal Navy team, with a time of six hours 50 minutes.
The team was raising money for Hampshire Air Ambulance and a children’s ward in Southampton.
He said: “We felt, as a group, that we wanted to help something particularly worthwhile. We know a few people who have needed the air ambulance and one of the guys in the group had his child in the children’s hospital, so we thought they were good causes to support.”
Mr Tyson was thrilled with the atmosphere the event created. He said: “Everybody has had a whale of a time, despite all the pain and the injuries and blisters. Everybody has had smiles on. The atmosphere was fantastic. I think we’re on target for another record day overall. I think we’re raised about £250,000 this year.”
First published at 11:56, Monday, 10 May 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
Had a brilliant day, have done it twice before at school, more prepared this time as i am alittle older!Will do it again, really enjoyed it and all the marshalls and helpers were very encourageing and very well organised,Thankyou
View all 6 comments on this article
Have your say
I am very annoyed to see that St John Ambulance has had no mentioning in any of the articles about the keswick to barrow, and they are the lead first aid team there.They send out all volunteers whom don't get a penny for doing what they do. I find it appalling that BAE get all the thanks when they were only a fraction of the first aiders out on the keswick to barrow
Posted by concerned participant on 29 June 2010 at 23:10