A Help for Heroes staff member will be paying the price for an off-the-cuff quip when he runs 75 miles for the charity.

Tristan Cooper, 48, who lives in Pitton near Salisbury, leads the Armed Forces charity’s sports, activity and fellowship team for the south of England, and has recently been accompanying veterans on canal boat cruises courtesy of Great Bedwyn-based Bruce Boats, which offers trips on the canal to the disabled, disadvantaged or elderly.

In July, he will be do his running challenge along the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The 48-year-old said: “Before Christmas, I was chatting to Bruce Boats’ publicity officer, Patrick Pease, and he said he was hoping to walk the Kennet and Avon canal in summer 2022. Jokingly, as a runner, I said ‘go on then; I’ll give you a couple of days head start, and I’ll chase you down’.

“I was joking and thought nothing more of it until, in January, he said he’d spoken to the committee, they were all in favour, and we just need to set a date for the ‘tortoise and hare’ style challenge.

"I couldn’t back out, so now I’m in training to run 75 miles in three days to catch up with Bruce Boats volunteers and supporters who will have set off walking six days ahead of me.”

His journey – and that of the walkers – will start at Reading, pause at Great Bedwyn, and then recommence from Bath before returning to Great Bedwyn for an afternoon of festivities at the finish line close to Bruce Boats’ headquarters.

Tristan will be raising funds for Help for Heroes, while the walkers will be collecting for Bruce Boats, which is also a registered charity.

He said: “I’m hoping that me running like a loon will highlight Help for Heroes’ work in the community – a great example of which, is what we’re engaging in with Bruce Boats – and the scope of our recovery service, which continues to offer physical, emotional, and financial support, to veterans who were injured, wounded or sick as a consequence of their military service.

“Covid made it difficult for us to offer our services in the normal environment, but we continued to support our veterans in an online capacity. Now, we’re back out offering face-to-face support, but with more of a community emphasis.”

The 75-mile stretch being undertaken by Tristan and the others, will take in aqueducts, the 502-yard Bruce Tunnel – the only one on the canal – and the spectacular Caen Hill Locks, a flight of 29 locks, between Rowde and Devizes, in Wiltshire.

Tristan Cooper and Bruce Boats’ ‘tortoise and hare’ challenge takes place from July 15 to 17 and is scheduled to finish at Great Bedwyn Wharf on the afternoon of Sunday 17.

To support his efforts in aid of Help for Heroes, visit Tristan’s Just Giving page.

 

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