FROM LIFE ON STREETS TO WORLD RECORD BID
AMAN who spent six months homeless is now attempting to break a world record. Celso Fonseca, 36, who is originally from Portugal, ended up sleeping rough for three months last year due to mental health problems and post-traumatic stress disorder.
While living on Cardiff’s streets he was forced to eat food off the floor and endure name-calling from passers-by each day.
But his life changed when he was offered a place in a YMCA hostel in Roath and, after another three months, a home of his own.
Celso says Wales “saved his life” and he is now keen to share his story, to give hope to other homeless people. He added: “You never expect it to happen to you in your life. I was lost. I did not have a clue where I was.
“It was very disorientating always, putting your hand into your pocket and thinking ‘where are my keys?’ then realising you don’t have any. “It was really, really horrible. “I didn’t beg. I was just on the street. I would walk for days at a time. I didn’t have a clue what to do.
“I would sit on the floor on Queen Street. That’s when I realised I had hit rock bottom. People call you horrible things like ‘bum’, ‘broke’ and ‘uneducated’.
“It wasn’t nice. You don’t know what that person is going through.”
The only place he felt safe sleeping was near the Senedd in Cardiff Bay.
But he would often sleep all day and walk all night in a bid to keep himself safe.
He said: “I was afraid someone was going to take my stuff while I was asleep.
“Even now I wake up at 2am, get up, walk through Cardiff and then go back to bed. You don’t just forget about it like that.”
It was a chance encounter with a friend he knew from cycling that led to Celso getting help from the YMCA.
Keen cyclist Celso will attempt to break the 24-hour cycling world record challenge at the Maindy Centre on November 18.
He will have to beat Austrian Christoph Strasser, who set the record in 2015 when he rode for 556.856 miles (896.17 km) around the former airport of Templehof in Berlin.
Celso hopes to reach a distance of just under 560 miles or 900 km on the centre’s outdoor track.
Each lap at Maindy Stadium covers around 460m, which means he must cycle 2,000 laps in the time limit.
So far he has been cycling between 300 and 500 laps a day at the centre to prepare. He is being sponsored by Evans Cycle in Cardiff, who have given him all his equipment.
Celso wants to raise £600 to cover the cost of World Record Officials who will be present for the challenge.
Anything above this will go to the YMCA.
To donate visit: www.justgiving. com/campaigns/charity/cardiffymca-housingassociation/celsofonseca