PHIL TAKES TO THE HIGH SEAS! #localandproud
RAF dad crossing Atlantic for charity that helped Isla
DETERMINED dad Phil Holdcroft is planning to take part in the world’s toughest race – to raise more funds for a charity that supported his seriously ill daughter.
RAF Wing Commander Phil will – with three of his RAF colleagues – row unsupported across the Atlantic.
Phil, who was born and bred in Rode Heath near Alsager but is now stationed in Oxfordshire, is taking part in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge.
The race starts in La Gomera on December 12 and requires teams to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to Antigua.
They are hoping to raise £50,000 for the Starlight charity which in 2016 granted daughter Isla’s wish of a trip to Lapland. Phil has already raised £20,000 in previous fundraising challenges for the the charity.
Isla was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 22 months and Phil says it was only the support of friends and charities such as Starlight, that helped the family ‘conquer the seemingly impossible.’
Isla,
pictured right with her dad,
is now a thriving nine-year-old, has been in remission for five years, and is now officially cured.
Phil, aged 42, is married to Beth, and they have another daughter Bella, aged 10. He said: “I yearned for a way to help my daughter and repay the amazing charities that helped save her life.
“As such, I pledged to mark each of her five years in remission with a near-impossible endurance challenge.
“These extreme events were designed to raise awareness for the incredible charities which support childhood cancer.
“The only rule was that the challenges needed to get tougher each year – a rule I nearly regretted when running 100-mile foot races and swimming in alligator infested lakes.
“To mark the magical milestone of Isla’s cure from cancer, I wanted to take on a challenge of such proportions that it genuinely frightened me – a challenge where a successful outcome was far from certain.
“As a fitting tribute to the warrior spirit of my daughter, I entered what is considered the world’s toughest race rowing unsupported across the Atlantic.
“I have pulled together the absolute A-team. Together, we will not just be battling 40ft waves and 35C heat, we will be trying to win the race in a record time.
“The Starlight trip to Lapland galvanised us as a family and provided memories to last a lifetime. We want to help provide this same opportunity for life’s most deserving souls.
“I am excited and nervous in equal measure and acutely aware of the magnitude, danger and scale of what we are about to undertake.”