Veteran, England volleyball star & Training Coordinator supporting the Cyclamen Contract with Morson, Yvonne Sykes, reveals all about her biggest charity challenge yet.
Yvonne, Training Coordinator at Leonardo, has spent the last 22 months supporting The Cyclamen Contract with Morson. During this time she has done more charity walks, challenges and walking marathons than we can count. Before this, she served in the RAF and also has 50 Volleyball caps for England. She’s now undergone her biggest charity challenge yet, the Forces March, we caught up with her to find out how it went.
This was a 135 mile walk that equates to 5 marathons in 5 days; it replicates the legendary World War II training march which started in Ilfracombe and finished in Bulford.
On the morning of day one we were given a rousing send off by the Lord Mayor, Harbour Master and Town Cryer of Ilfracombe along with lots of local residents and schoolchildren who waved and cheered us off.
Each day provided different challenges. The first two days were consistently hilly throughout. Day three was the furthest distance, 30 miles, with the day commencing at the bottom of the steepest hill of the whole challenge. Day four was hot and the roads were monotonously long and straight with a lot of fast moving traffic, it was alot of stop / start all the time meaning it was difficult to get into any sort of rhythm . Day five was wet and cold and i was feeling shattered, at this point i had already walked in excess of 100 miles. On the plus side the finish line was looming and
the prospect of seeing family and friends really spurred me on to get my head down and push through. The bonus of day five was that I am familiar with the area as our office was not too far from the finish line - also many years ago we lived in a married quarter at Bulford.
At the end of each days walking, we had to put our tents up and camp. I have to say that I hadn’t anticipated just how very cold it would be at night. Each night I slept in four / five layers plus my coat, in my sleeping bag with a blanket on and I was still frozen. On the morning of day three we woke up to a ground frost!!
I had to dig deep on many occasions and although I entered this event on my own, its team work that got me through it. There was always someone there with a kind word or a jelly baby to lift the mood when fatigue set in or I doubted myself. I would like to think I have made friends for life.
I would like to thank everyone that sponsored me and also to those that took the time to send me messages of support. My fundraising total currently stands at £2,060, which is absolutely phenomenal!!
The Veterans Charity do fantastic work and every penny raised goes straight to helping our Veterans when they face hardship and distress.
If you'd like to learn more about the cause Yvonne Marched for or to donate, click here.
