TWO soldiers from Brecon aim to run six marathons in six days, including scaling the three highest peaks in Wales, to raise money for charity.
Jamie Hutch, 36, and Tim Tucker, 32, will be setting off on Saturday, July 7, from Llanfairpwllgwyngllgogerychwyndroblllantysiologogogoch on the Isle of Anglesey and finishing in Brecon on Thursday, July 12.
The two Afghanistan veterans, who both serve in the Royal Logistics Corps with the 160th Infantry Brigade based at Brecon Barracks, will be running in aid of Cancer Research and Marie Curie.
They aim to cover 140 miles, taking in Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen-y-Fan. The total amount of climbing on the run will be about 7,800 metres - only 1,000m short of the height of Mt Everest.
Jamie and Tim will be averaging 23 miles a day for six days – almost a marathon every day. They both have relatives who have died from cancer or are fighting cancer.
Father of three Jamie said his brother-in-law had died from cancer last year, while his mother is recovering from an operation to remove a tumour.
Tim, who has four children, lost his sister to cancer quite recently too.
Jamie said: “The reality is starting to dawn on us now. In total we’ll be running 140 miles – including the three peaks. We’ve raised just over £2,000 so far and hope to raise a lot more.”
Jamie and Tim started training for their epic run back in January and had a spell training with their brigade at high altitude in Kenya where the temperatures touched 40 degrees celsius.
Tim said some of the training was conducted at 2,000m above sea level, much higher than the summit of Mount Snowdon. He added: “You’re fine on the flat, but when you go up higher it’s more difficult because you’re struggling to breathe with the altitude so it’s harder to run, it’s certainly took quite a bit of acclimatising.”
Tim added: “With my sister, it was that feeling of helplessness because all I could do was be there for support as there’s nothing else you really can do. It was important to me to do something to help, and to try to give something back.”
The men have hosted fundraising evenings in Brecon and in Swansea, close to where Jamie is from, including a “massive” raffle.
Their aim is to tackle Snowdon on the first day. Jamie said: “If my mum is well enough she’ll be taking the train to meet us at the top, although she is supposed to spend six weeks in recovery.”
They will be followed each day by a caravan, which will carry their supplies and give them somewhere to sleep.
On day three they will tackle Cadair Idris.
On the final day they are planning to run from Talgarth to Brecon before tackling Pen y Fan – where there will be a service by a padre – and then returning to Brecon Barracks.
Tim and Jamie have set up a Facebook page called ‘Welsh 3 Peaks Marathon – 160X Log Sp’ on which they will be posting updates, including a video blog and GoPro footage, throughout the experience. They also have Just Giving pages where people can make donations.