Members of the Royal Marines association on the Isle of wight have joined forces with team members on the mainland in an 80 day charity event to raise crucial funds.
The event began on 1st September and is due to finish on 19th November. In total there are 31 team members, 11 of which are from the Island, the rest are from all over the UK.
Most of the team are ex-Royal Marines or ex-Service Men/Women as well as a few civilians who have close connections to the armed services.
In true Royal Marine style, the team are determined to rise to the challenge and will be pushing themselves to the absolute limit in order to succeed in this event.
Rev’d Tony Richards at St Blasius Church, Shanklin blessed the team before they began the challenge and he himself has put in a respectable amount of miles so far.
Since when the event began, the oldest team member Tom Bodman has walked a remarkable 163 miles! This figure, combined with the remainder of the team, has meant that collectively an impressive 9,539 miles has been covered in just 4 short weeks.
Not only does the challenge involve walking, some members of the team are cycling, running, swimming and even canoeing.
To achieve the demanding target of 24,901 miles over 80 days, the team must cover an average distance of 2,185 miles a week. To keep track, each team member meticulously records their weekly
number of miles covered and these totals are collated to plot progress and share with the rest of the team.
To make a donation go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rmaiow. All proceeds will go to The Royal Marines Charity.
Well done lads, once a Bootie always a Bootie.