Two ladies, five days, and more than 125kilometres covered…

Two intrepid athletes have taken on a five-day challenge for us – raising almost £5,000!

Elaine Currie and Julie Turner took on the challenge after being inspired by fellow fundraisers at last year’s Lingen Davies celebration evening. They decided to do something a bit different and so chose to do five triathlons across five consecutive days across the region. They did 500m swims, followed by 20km bike rides, then a 5km power walk. Their total currently stands at £4,871 – and they’re still fundraising.

“We’ve taken it at our own pace but we’ve done it!” said Elaine.

Julie’s good friends Lois and Catrin Tudor joined them for different parts of the challenge, along with Julie’s husband Steve. For the final day they did a swim in Shrewsbury Quarry, then walked to Greyfriars Bridge, past Shrewsbury School and up to the hospital.

Elaine: “We’re so very lucky we’ve never had cancer and are able to do a challenge like this.

Julie: “I came along to the celebration evening last year and was inspired listening to people’s stories. We all know someone who’s been affected by cancer, and I just thought there must be something I can do for Lingen Davies.

“Elaine and I have done triathlons before and I asked her if she was on for a big challenge! I wanted to do something big so we decided to do five triathlons in five days.

“We’ve built up our fitness over the year and have been practicing, we’ve really ramped it up over the last few months. We’re both very keen swimmers but the rest has been a challenge for us. Actually doing the event has been fun, we all know people who’ve been treated here in Shrewsbury, including my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and we wanted to do something to say thanks.

“I recently lost one of my closest friends, Ann Evans, who passed away with cancer. I carried a quote from her with me on the challenge,” she added.

Elaine: I feel really great that we’ve done it but also quite sad that it’s over.

“I just feel so grateful that Julie and I can take on a challenge like this. Everywhere we went people were asking us what we were doing and everyone had great things to say about the Lingen Davies Centre,” she added.

Karen Roberts, community fundraiser at Lingen Davies, said a huge thank you to Elaine and Julie for taking on this challenge.