‘Macmillan Cancer Support Isle of Man’ and ‘Friends of Robert Owen House’ are set to benefit from the Parish Walk achievements of staff at Royal London 360°.
Nine employees of the offshore life assurance company recently participated in the event, including Head of Customer Services, Richard Gerrard, who completed the 85-mile course in just over 16 hours! His remarkable performance meant he finished in fourth place out of more than 1,700 entrants.
Richard’s colleagues Julia Bratty, Selena Bostock, Martin Blyth, Anne Clarke, Terry Kelly, Rebecca McKendrey, John Cleator and Stephanie Gardiner also took part in the Parish Walk. £1,000 will be shared between the two charities.
Richard has been training since the start of 2010, completing 60 miles per week during May and June. He commented: “I knew it was going to be a difficult day when I arrived at the start just after 7.30am – the sun was already warm. Instead of taking it easy to begin with, I got a bit carried away and went off too fast. I was feeling fine to Rushen but then realised that, whilst I had drunk a lot of water, I hadn’t been eating enough and was low on energy. Then came the Sloc!
“I felt sick halfway up with the sun beating down and no shelter, and decided that I would just get to the top and then finish. A couple of people passed me, which made it worse! Walking through the Round Table I knew there was no phone reception so decided that as soon as I had a signal, I would phone my wife to pick me up. However, I had something to eat walking through Dalby, forgot about calling and, a few minutes later, felt much better. After I got past halfway, I had no doubt I would finish.
“The worst thing was the heat, but the good weather brought out a lot of people to watch and provide encouragement, and you can’t beat the feeling walking down Douglas Promenade to the finish. I knew I wasn’t feeling my usual self at the end though, as I turned down a beer when I crossed the line!”
I’ve heard one of the walkers was an imposter – he has long, wavy, gorgeous brown hair and a hooter Phil Thompson would be envious of.
I too saw this walker. His hair was overgrowing around his ears and he had a wet dog look about him.
Nice to see someone else noticed. He’s an animal lover I think, kept going on about squirrel covers and asking people to get their rats out.