TEDDINGTON MUM JOINS 100KM CHALLENGE TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE GURKHAS

Four women, including Jo Cochrane from Teddington, will be embarking upon a non-stop 100km walk along the beautiful South Downs from Petersfield to Brighton to raise funds for the military charity, The Gurkha Welfare Trust.

The group, called ‘Team Just Out Smashing Hills’ is made up of four close friends who are juggling their work and family commitments to train for the gruelling challenge and they have already raised £3545 out of £4000 from 72 supporters.

“We will be supported by our hubbies who are the support crew keeping us fed, watered and massaged (!) at the various check points along the way,” they say.

They say their training is going well so far, with nearly 1000 kms between the team already clocked up.

“We completed 60km in one weekend in June and a 50km+ walk in August, the final one before the big day. A big ‘thank you’ to our other halves for taking on family duties to allow us the training time!

” We are raising funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, with a couple of us having a special connection to the Gurkha’s. Abi was a Unit Education Officer for 1RGR 2009 – 11, and Louisa lost her brother, Major Josh Bowman, in July 2010 in Afghanistan.

” Abi deployed on Operation HERRICK 12 with Josh and was with him at his Patrol Base a week before the incident. Josh was leading a company of Gurkhas in Helmand at the time.

“Our team has pledged to raise £4000 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, giving Gurkha veterans and their families in Nepal the means to live with dignity. To our generous sponsors, we’d like to say a huge “Dhanyabad!” (“Thank you” in Nepali)

“Thank you for reading, Abi, Jo, Louisa and Paula x.”

You can support their amazing effort here: https://trailwalker.enthuse.com/pf/team-just-out-smashing-hills