There are challenges – and there are challenges! – when people set about raising money for Pendleside Hospice. And none come tougher than the one Daniel Armitage is about to undertake.
The 33-year-old father-of-two has set himself a gruelling energy-sapping few months to raise £10,000 towards the services provided by the hospice.
Daniel plans to complete 15 exhausting Tough Mudders around the UK before then scaling the 19,341ft Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
He said: “Over the next few months I plan to travel around the country at weekends competing in 15 Tough Mudders which are eight to 10 miles long and involve 23 obstacles. And as you can tell by the title I will be wading through lots of mud!
“I completed two last year and raised money for Pendleside and an animal charity. They gave me a taste of what to expect. Some weekends I will be doing two so its going to be a real tester!
“The first one is in April at Finsbury Park in London and the last one at Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire, on September 5 and 6.”
Daniel is being helped in his preparations by personal trainer Anthony Harker. His sponsors are: Positive Practice (Stewart Newberry); Copy Print Services (Jo Spencer); Halima Fitness (Halima Aziz); Deborah Bulcock Coaching (Deborah Bulcock); Howe 2 Gardening and Landscapes (Daniel Howe); and Beau Toxskin (Sue Pieri-Davies).
He is also going to print 10 names per Tough Mudder on his shirt (150 in total) asking for £25 donation per name.
Daniel said: “Hopefully, that will raise as much as £3,750. If anyone would like to support me and sponsor in aid of a loved one who was looked after by the hospice I can pop the loved one’s names on my shirt. They just need to email me on [email protected]”
The link to his just giving page is https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/daniel-armitage3
Throughout the summer he will be supported by his wife Michelle, and daughters Ellie, 13, and Isobelle, 8.
Apart from being a financial adviser at PH7, Daniel is also a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner, an executive coaching consultant and an integral eye-movement therapist.
While he has visited Pendleside, Daniel has no personal experience of family or friends being cared for there but he said: “My grandparents both needed end-of-life care but not at Pendleside. I saw first hand the kind of service hospices provide but without funding that would not be available so that is why I am raising the £10,000.”