Stef's 100 Mile Challenge - UWFRA

On the last weekend of May this year I ran 100 miles in the Long Distance walkers Association 100 mile virtual footrace.  In addition to achieving a very longstanding goal, it was a really tough personal challenge.  My feet were in tatters afterwards.

I'd originally entered the Lady Anne's Way 100 mile event but this was deferred until January 2022. Here we are in January 2022 and I'm due to start the LAW100 at 6am on Saturday morning 29th January. The route is littered with stiles, there's a storm coming, I'll be continuing through the night, it's going to be tough. Please make it with my while by donating to this cause.

I'm running to raise money for a charity that is close to my heart; The Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA).  

UWFRA is a mountain and cave rescue team. They're all volunteers and are on-call 365 days a year in the Yorkshire Dales, funded entirely through fundraising activities and donations.

I’ve spent many days running and walking in the Yorkshire Dales. Every time I venture out I do so knowing help is available if the worst came to the worst and I needed to make that call. As more and more people head to the countryside and remote places to explore and escape the stresses of life, there have been unprecedented levels of call outs to emergency services including UWFRA. Some get lost or injured and seek help, others are reported missing and a search follows. 

In order to carry out their work, UWFRA is spending ever increasing amounts on training members.  The two main ones this year are to re-qualify some of their swift water rescue technicians and their blue light drivers.

Swift water technicians are trained to the same rescue standard as all the other emergency services including the RNLI.  They deployed to both the Carlisle and York floods a few years ago, and have rescued kayakers from the river at Grassington. They were recently on standby during storm Christoph.  This year 5 out of 15 technicians are re-qualifying for swift water rescues.

One of the most dangerous things the team does is respond to incidents, especially when driving team vehicles on blue lights.  They have a core of drivers who are specially trained to respond on blues.  This year there are 10 team members who need training.

Any funds that we can raise will help with providing this training and will be greatly appreciated by UWFRA. 

Thank you for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

My employers NPS Leeds have offered to fund match all donations made by anyone who works for NPS Leeds. To allow me to identify these donations, if you work for NPS Leeds please highlight this in the comments when you donate.