Routes to Roots’ volunteer, Tony Ridgway is tackling one of Europe’s most grueling challenges to raise money for our clients. Designed by British Special Forces to challenge the toughest of the tough, Tough Mudder is a series of hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle race – mud run events. And, Tony will be entering possibly the muddiest of the lot – the London South event in October.
Notorious for resembling a medieval battlefield, London South’s Tough Mudder is sprawled over hundreds of acres of barren farmland and jagged, meandering trails, making it fast and slippery.
Tony comments: “With around 20 obstacles over 20km, fire, water, climbing and crawling, and at 51, this is going to be tough! Since competing in the London Marathon at 19, I have to admit my overall fitness has been pretty hit and miss, with the usual New Year resolutions fading away by March. My reason for doing Tough Mudder is purely down to my son Matt, who challenged me to do it, and in fact bought my entry as a birthday present.”
“I’m looking forward to doing it. This is the most active I have been for a number of years and it’s paying off: I’m getting a real benefit from it, and I want to share that around.”
Tony will be sharing it around with the homeless and vulnerably housed clients of Routes to Roots by donating all sponsorship to our minibus appeal
“About three years ago when I decided I wanted to do some charity work, a chance conversation with a colleague resulted in my giving Routes to Roots a try,” explains Tony. “This evolved into actual cooking for the clients at the Skinner Street Drop-In. I enjoy it and never know from one month to the next what I’m going to cook: I turn up, see what ingredients we have in, and one hour later we produce a hot meal for between 20 and 30 people. It amazes me how every time we manage to have enough for whoever turns up – although there have been some very late arrivals where we have had to improvise. I can tell you that when you’ve not eaten for a while, a bit of fried spam and beans on toast taste pretty good!”
Tough Mudder – London South
Matterley Bowl, Temple Valley, Winchester
25-26 October
Please support Tony and Routes to Roots by donating through his myDonate fundraising page:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/tonyridgway51
You can follow his progress on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/tony.ridgway2