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Fresh from his Virgin Money London Marathon run, Dave Waterman is preparing for yet another endurance charity challenge.
This weekend (14/15 Jul) the 46-year-old from Colchester will take on the Trek The Night: South Downs Way for children’s charity Action Medical Research.
“It won’t be easy” admits the Company Director, “but then it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was!”
Dave will join around 80 other people who will set off from Devil’s Dyke at midnight, trek across the Sussex countryside, along the Seven Sisters before completing the course in Eastbourne.
It’s not bad for a man who hasn’t long recovered from a major back operation.
Dave had surgery in September 2016 to repair three worn discs in his lower back. Although there's no clear reason for his back trouble, he can remember a collision in his teens which may have contributed:
“Well, when I was 19 I was involved in a motorcycle crash and had been suffering with a bad back ever since. But more recently the pain had just been getting progressively worse; long distance car journeys were excruciating.
“It got to the stage where I couldn’t sit down to watch my youngest daughter’s nativity play and that’s when I knew something had to be done.”
Dave hopes to raise £3,000 for Action by completing all three of his challenges throughout 2018. His third and final event will be the Essex 100 bike ride in September.
“As a father of three (Kester,9, Anya, 7 and Arlo, 6) it’s very sobering to think about all the work Action does to raise funds for research into various childhood illnesses and conditions.
“For me, being able to have fun running and cycling while raising money for a great cause is a win-win!”
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.
The charity is currently funding research into areas including premature birth, epilepsy, asthma, scarlet fever, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.
-END-
NOTES TO EDITORS
Photos/Images
To download a photo of Dave Waterman with his London Marathon medal:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/dave_waterman_london_marathon.jpg
To download a photo of Dave Waterman:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/dave_waterman_selfie_cropped.jpg
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/dave_waterman_selfie_action_top.jpg
To download a map of the Trek The Night course:
https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/ttn_sdw_map.jpg
Further reading
You can find out more about Dave's story in this short blog:
https://www.action.org.uk/blog/2018/03/12/operating-table-treadmill
You can find a link to Dave Waterman’s fundraising page here:
https://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/DavidVLM2018
For more information on Action Medical Research, or to arrange an interview with Rob, contact Peter Denton, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:
T: 01403 327412
E:pdenton@action.org.uk
W: action.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
Follow us on Instagram at @actionmedres and @actionevents
Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For more than 65 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.
Join our fight for little lives today.
Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.