Ben Shephard: Coast 2 Coast² 2011
Friday 15th Jul 2011
Ben Shephard is taking on an exciting new challenge, which involves covering 280 miles across the width of the UK! In aid of charity, here Ben tells us exactly what he's doing and why!
What is it?
Tynemouth to Whitehaven to Tynemouth.
Across the width of mainland UK and back again, 280 miles, in a week. Under my own steam.
When is it?
28 July 2011 – 3 August 2011
Thursday 28th July to Friday 29th July - Cycling from Tynemouth to Whitehaven
Saturday 30th July to Wednesday 3rd August - Running back to Tynemouth from Whitehaven
I’ll be leaving on July 28 to cycle 140 miles, travelling East to West, arriving in Whitehaven two days later where myself and the team of fundraisers will promptly turn round and run the 140 miles back to Tynemouth over the remaining 5 days.
70 of miles cycling a day for the first two days, before ditching the bikes and running over a marathon a day (28 miles to be exact!) for five consecutive days on the way back.
I consider myself quite a fit and determined bloke but this is daunting. I’ve run marathons before, climbed Kilimanjaro and ran one way coast to coast last year, which was incredibly hard by the way, however this is without doubt going to be one of the biggest physical challenges of my life to date.
But I and the team are pushing ourselves to the limit for very good reason.
Why am I doing it?
For the Children's Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital and for Seb, the son of a very good friend of mine.
Around 300 small babies and children are operated on each year by the children’s heart surgeons at the Freeman Hospital.
Heart problems, including Tetralogy of Fallot, which Seb was diagnosed with, are among the most common types of abnormality found in newborn babies. Many of them are tiny infants who, up until a few years ago, would not have survived. Out of 33,000 babies born in the Northern region each year, around 300 will require surgery and many more will require medical or outpatient treatment in the Children’s Heart Unit (Ward 23).
Not all children are born with heart disease. Viruses can severely weaken the heart and cause it to fail. The Freeman Hospital is one of only 2 hospitals in the UK that performs children’s heart transplants and that use mechanical hearts to keep these children alive until their heart either recovers or can be transplanted. Since 1987 over 250 children have received a transplant.
Because of the special expertise at the Freeman Hospital, children are referred from Ireland, Scotland and many hospitals throughout England. On a rare occasion, they may even be referred from overseas. For more information about the children’s charity CHUF, visit www.chuf.org.uk and Seb4CHUF http://www.seb4chuf.org.uk/index.html .
To follow @benshephard on Twitter click here or to donate via Ben's Just Giving page, click here.
Or for those of you who would rather donate via text, Vodafone have launched a text donation service with Just Giving. It’s not network specific and there is no cost, money goes straight to Just Giving account. To donate people need to text the following:
SHEP99
Followed by amount: either £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, £10. To 70070