Peter Todd, one of Hunslet Rugby League club’s many valuable volunteers, is doing his bit for the “Run for Rob” event in support of the charities highlighted by Rob Burrow’s diagnosis of Motor Neuron Disease, namely SITraN and MND, two charities dedicated to finding a cure for this devastating disease.
The main event is for Hunslet supporters and the wider public to run from Hunslet’s South Leeds Stadium to Keighley’s Cougar Park on Sunday 30 May, when the two sides will meet in a Betfred League 1 clash at 3pm.
Details of the Hunslet “official” Run for Rob can be found here
Like a number of supporters, Peter does not live close to Hunslet, and so he has decided to find his own challenging journey to Keighley on 30th May.
Peter takes up the story.
“I decided that I would rather find an alternative route to get to Keighley. Being not in the first flush of youth, I thought that finding a route to walk, rather than run, would be a sensible option.
After finding (thanks to Google maps) that it is 23.8 miles, or an 8 hours 2 minutes’ walk, from my home to the game, I decided to have a re-think.
“My father-in-law lives in Menston and that seemed to be a less daunting challenge, so I have had a practice “run” starting from there.
“There were a number of challenges that I had not taken into account. The first one – thanks, Google, for misleading me about this – was that almost the whole route was on roads, with not even a grass verge to walk on for most of the way.
“I’ve done a fair amount of walking (Ben Nevis, Snowdon, the Three Peaks in the last ten years), but a total of six hours walking almost entirely on hard roads certainly took its toll on my feet.”
Toddy continues: “I crossed the Leeds & Liverpool canal on Swine Lane, which brought back memories of a time in a previous life when I was on the canal on a barge holiday and trying to shift the road bridge to let us through was a nightmare (so I thought that `swine’ was an appropriate name).
“This brought me down to Bradford Road and, fairly soon afterwards, to Cougar Park which, as I quickly realised, was only the half-way point of my walk – I had to walk all the way back along the same roads.
“By a fortunate mishap – I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere – my return journey at least involved a walk along the toll path of the canal for a mile or so. This had the twin benefits of being less stressful on my feet and not having to be as concerned about passing traffic. A barge coming towards me at five mph was much less dangerous than a lorry coming at 50mph.
I am writing this a couple of days after my trek and I am pleased to report that my feet have recovered much more quickly that I had feared. So now I have to decide whether to use this route on 30th May – or an alternative that I have been thinking about, starting in Ilkley and going over the moors. I guess I will have to do a couple more practice walks and then make a decision.
Hunslet’s `Run for Rob’ initiative is being supported by South Leeds Lakers Running Club (which is ensuring that the event will be conducted in a Covid-secure manner). The entry fee for runners and walkers is £25, with all profits going to MND and SITraN, and can be paid by clicking here
Those who are unable to partake in the 20-mile challenge but still want to show their support can take part in a 10k virtual challenge (for which the entry fee is £15, payable by clicking here) by completing a 10k run in their local area on 29/30 May and posting their photograph on the Hunslet Facebook site. They will also receive an `I Ran for Rob’ scarf.
