August this year will see Sip attempt his latest challenge, raising vital funds for two fantastic charities. A world first, he will solo paddle the entire Great Glenn from Fort William across the entirety of Scotland to Inverness, a distance covering 96 km. From there, he will turn and bike the trail route back, another 125km, before leaving the saddle to run the first leg, a total distance of over 300km.
This mammoth event, to be completed in seven days with no sleep or rest, will aim to raise vital funds, and awareness, for two lifesaving charities. Combat Stress is a charity supporting service personnel and veterans with PTSD, anxiety and depression. Seven days of pain in this endurance challenge is nothing compared to what our service personnel and veterans go through on a daily basis, both mentally and physically, suffering in silence.
The Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team is another charity close to Sip’s heart, who play a vital role in saving lives. With an operational area spanning over eight hundred square miles, volunteers provide an essential, life saving emergency service to the people of Lancashire and beyond, providing search and rescue and medical treatment in challenging terrain. Funding is raised entirely through donations from the community and local businesses.
Unfortunately, having recently lost his wife to suicide, a former army veteran, Sip has been diagnosed with Complex PTSD and is now getting vital life saving support from Combat Stress. Fundraising for this charity is personal to him, even prior to leaving the services. For over a century the charity has been helping former servicemen and women deal with the effects of their military service, providing specialist treatment and support for veterans from every conflict, focusing on those with complex mental health issues. Now more than ever, veterans need them, and they need you.
Sip has recently achieved a twenty year dream to be part of the mountain rescue, having just been selected as an aspirant within the Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team. In recent years, the charity has increasingly been called upon to conduct searches for vulnerable missing people in urban and remote areas, working alongside other emergency services including the ambulance and fire service. Additional funding to sustain training, equipment and improve facilities will support the charity for years to come, saving lives on the ground now and into the future.
Follow the journey, as we lay the foundations in the coming months to successfully complete the challenge. Whilst the paddling, biking and run is being endured by one man, there are a team of people who are donating their time and efforts to ensure that the event happens on time and to plan. Sip has now started training and this page will be updated with further details in due course. In the coming weeks a new donation page will be setup, but you can still donate towards previous challenges. Enduro3 follows the successful completion of Enduro214, recently nominated for Endurance Event of the Year at the JustGiving Awards. Find out more about that event below.