Brothers face epic charity canoe trek
TWO brothers will embark on an epic cross-country canoe challenge to raise money for a hospice and cancer charity which cared for their late dad.
As reported in last week’s East Cheshire Hospice column, George and Tom Bentham, from Macclesfield, aim to row across from Glasson Dock in Lancaster, via Liverpool, to Hull in aid of for East Cheshire Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Their late father Mark was cared for by both charities after becoming terminally ill with an aggressive form of throat cancer.
The brothers, who had never set foot inside a canoe before embarking on the challenge, want to raise £7,500 for each as their way of saying thank you.
“Our dad had a huge thirst for life both on and off the water and also for cooking fantastic food,” said Tom.
“This challenge is our way of saying thank you to the East Cheshire Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support for looking after dad and also us.
“Picking something we were good at and comfortable doing was quickly out the window. We’ve never canoed before and we figured that doing this would be enough of a challenge to get people behind us.”
Tom, 30, who is a chef, and George, 27, now living in Halifax and who works in insurance, were inspired to take to the water for the nine-day challenge as their father Mark had been a keen sailor.
Mark, from Macclesfield, had sailed from Glasson Dock in Lancaster as a boy and that is why they had decided to start their challenge from there.
He also worked as a chef on board yachts, travelling all around the world to do so.
His sons will be doing up to 27 miles a day in the 17ft long canoe, going through 47 locks on their journey.
Tom said: “We’ve been getting together to train most weekends and also doing some solo paddling. We’ve had a bit of tuition.
“It’s not easy because we’ve both got families too.
“We’ve been hitting the canals around Macclesfield and doing a lot of fitness stuff in the gym.”
East Cheshire Hospice needs £7,500 per day to run.
The challenge begins on September 12, to donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/cacec or justgiving.com/fundraising/ cacmm.