Joe’s charity challenge in Violet’s name

A RUNCORN dad is to take a gruelling 10-mile charity obstacle course in aid of Alder Hey in memory of a girl who lost her life tragically young.

Joe Wilde, 40, is to take on the Yorkshire Warrior 2017 on April 30, pitting himself against a series of bogs, electric fencing, barbed wire, river crossings and other trepidation-packed challenges.

There is no turning back either for Joe, who has already smashed his fundraising target and raised more than £3,300 along with his Wilde Warriors team comrades Gaynor Porter, James Porter and Maisie Porter.

Proceeds are for Alder Hey as part of the Violet Stephens Memorial Fund appeal in memory of a colleague’s daughter Violet Stephens, who died at just 15 months old.

Joe’s training is well under way and he completed the Runcorn 5k parkrun on Saturday with a time of 36 minutes, 50 seconds.

Yorkshire Warrior is now just two months away and Joe is determined to be ready on the day and is also hoping businesses might add to the growing sponsorship pot.

He said: “It’s 10 miles long with obstacles like crawling underneath barbed wire, crossing rivers, those kinds of thing. I’m a big fat lad – I struggle to run a small mile at the moment so it’s a proper challenge.

“I’ve been pretty overwhelmed by the response.

“I sent everybody a message on Facebook and put a link on and put a target on of £500 and we smashed that overnight we upped that to £2,000 and we smashed that and we’re up to £3,000. If I could get it to £4,000, £5,000, that would be amazing.”

Sponsor Joe at https://www. justgiving.com/fundraising/WildeWarriors