The idea first popped into my head when it became a more frequent occurrence to spend my Sundays trekking the wonderful routes of the Cleveland Way. I wanted to do something big for a charity close to my heart which is why I chose Mind. I also wanted my charity event to be sport and outdoors related as I believe these are both great releases for people suffering from mental health. I chose the 70kg, 7k hill walk as I wanted to do something that I knew would take great mental strength and grit to complete, so that people would sponsor generously for the great cause. The perfect opportunity came to me in the form of my good friend, Andrew Burton. He asked me one morning in the gym to throw out the 70kg medicine ball as it had popped. I then told him about my idea and he couldn’t of been happier for me to fix up the ball and crack on with pursuing my training for the event. We set a date, of which I had 5 weeks to prepare, and so my training started by gradually taking heavier medicine balls up Rosebery Topping until the day arrived. I was buzzing with the support from everyone in the gym and the local area and raised over £2000 in total. The walk was a killer and took me just under 4 hours to complete, my legs were like jelly, my shoulders and neck were red raw and the hair off the back of my head had grazed away but it was all worth it.
Josh Fleming
