A CCTV and fire installer swapped his work boots for walking ones. Steve Collins of SRC Fire in Lichfield and his friend Shane Willmoth flew to Vietnam to trek the jungle to raise £10,000 for Help for Heroes.
Steve, a fairly inexperienced trekker, kicked off his fund-raising journey for the charity late September in 2013 with a couple of runs and ‘warm up’ gym sessions at Virgin Active in Shenstone. In just under six months he is now running five miles in thirty minutes and has managed to lose almost three stone in the process as part of his own personal fitness goal.
Steve Collins, of Lichfield, says: “When I first signed up for the challenge in September, I didn’t quite realise how tough it would be. I knew I wanted to get involved with Help for Heroes and ambitiously decided on the Vietnam Jungle trek.
“After receiving the information pack, I soon realised how difficult it was going to be and managed to convince a client and now friend to do it with me. After months of personal training, a complete change of eating habits and no mince pies over the Christmas period I think I’m finally fit enough to get through it.”
Steve began the challenge on Tuesday, April 1 in Hoa Binh province at Tan Lac, where he will trek along the beautiful valley to Ngo Luong. The ten day trek will see Steve and his team partner Shane Willmoth walk 90km through Ban Hin, Ban Kho Muong, the original Ho Chi Minh Trail and finish off at through Pu Luong Nature Reserve to Ma River in Hanoi.
Team SRC as Steve and Shane are known have already raised £6,257 with more activities to come to reach that £10,000 target. Steve, now a regular gym goer due to the trek has also organised a charity night at Virgin Active in Shenstone featuring the music act Middle Eight, who have also donated their time to the cause at ‘cost’. For further details of the charity event or to support Steve Collins’ Help for Heroes challenge please visit his blog srcfire.co.uk/blog.
About Help for Heroes
It offers support to those who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses while in the armed forces. This is provided through grants to individuals, other service charities, capital build projects and four Recovery Centres across the UK, in Catterick, Colchester, Tidworth and Plymouth.
