Rugby star takes on 2021 mile challenge!

Thursday, 4 March 2021
Rugby star takes on 2021 mile challenge!

Many of us have upped our exercises regimes throughout lockdown and home workouts and fitness challenges have taken centre stage. We caught up with Richard Whiting, former Rugby League professional and local Featherstone lad, who has taken his 2021 fitness challenge to a whole new level.

Richard has pledged to run an incredible 2021 miles this year in hope of raising £2021 for each of his five chosen charities, including The Prince of Wales Hospice. Talking about his chosen charities Richard said;

‘I have seen first-hand the effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the charity sector, in particular fundraising. From huge events like the Virgin London Marathon being cancelled to local charity shops having to close, cutting off crucial income streams.
 
‘I wanted to do something for charities that mean something to me which is why I’ve selected the five charities I have, all are charities that I’ve worked with previously or hold a personal meaning. The charities are The Prince of Wales Hospice, Love Me, Love My Face Foundation, Life for a Kid, Motor Neurone Disease Association and Rugby League Cares.’
 
Richard grew up in Featherstone and from being young can remember doing fundraising for the Hospice, in particular our Santa Dash down Halfpenny Lane. As the years have passed Richard became more and more aware of the services that the Hospice provides to people in the local area through the fundraising efforts of Michelle Grainger of Michelle’s Flowers. The pair have become firm friends and in 2018 and 2019 worked together on a five a side tournament held at A1 Football Factory.
 
After retiring from his rugby career which spanned 18 years in 2018, Richard kicked back and put his feet up, admitting he was inactive for around 18 months. When lockdown hit in March 2020, Richard embarked on a fitness regime and started doing circuits in the garden and running. Battling through muscle injuries Richard began to build on his fitness and completed his first 10km run last July, and even shed 10kg in process. It was around this time that the idea of the challenge was born.
 
‘During the first lockdown, I used exercise as an outlet for me to de-stress and keep myself in a positive state of mental health and I began doing some running, something that I have never really done before.
 
‘I found I enjoyed being out in the fresh air and started to think of ways that I could fundraise for charity that would both test me physically, but also be hard enough that people would hopefully see the effort it would take to complete. Therefore, I eventually hit on the idea of covering 2021 miles in the year 2021.’ Reveals Richard.
 
To kick start his challenge, Richard has been trying to run a little further than the 5.54 miles daily average he needs to maintain, which has been useful when snow fall prevented him from running. So far, Richard has clocked up over 70 miles, which is no walk in the park!
 
‘One thing that most people will assume is that this is an easy challenge being an ex-professional athlete but the truth is, during my whole career as a rugby player I would never have done any running on more than two days on the bounce and would never had trained on more than three consecutive days so I’m very much well out of my comfort zone attempting to average 5.54 miles per day for 365 miles!’
 
We wish Richard every success with his challenge, and we are metaphorically behind him every step of the way! To donate visit: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichWhiting2021in2021

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