Local Wigan man to take on ultimate Canadian adventure trail for much-needed charity
Chris Woodward from Wigan is set to conquer a Canadian adventure trek, raising funds for Andy’s Man Club.
A Wigan man who has previously completed huge adventures and challenges for a much-loved charity, will soon be embarking on his next journey - this time, he’s going to Canada.
Chris Woodward, 43, is never shy of a true adventure having previously undertaken a six month long trek from Wigan, England to Wigan in the Philippines, passing through 15 countries and documenting the entire journey through his social media account Coal Pit to Coconut.
More recently, Chris rode the Mauritian Railway’s iron ore train called Snake of the Desert, which is a 435-mile journey through the scorching heat of the Sahara Desert, taking around 20 hours.
Chris has embarked on these challenging adventures to raise as much money as possible for Andy’s Man Club, which is a UK-based suicide prevention charity. It offers free, peer-to-peer talking groups for men over 18.
Chris has also battled with his own mental health and praises Andy’s Man Club for helping him, he said: “I’ve always said if it weren’t for Andy’s Man Club I might not have been here. My main aim is to spread awareness for Andy’s Man Club and raise as much money as I can for them.”
On September 10, Chris will be leaving to go to Canada for an all expenses paid adventure trip through a scheme run by Venari Partners - an executive search firm based in London.
After applying to the Venari Partners Challenge scheme, a few months later Chris found out that he had been one of the eight people chosen.
He said: “I got an email saying ‘congratulations you’re one of the eight selected out of 100 nominations’ and that they’re paying for us to go to Canada with everything included.”
The team land in Calgary and will complete 100 kilometres over eight days, walking over The Rocky Mountains with an ice delegation peak of 1,400 metres. They will also be sleeping in the wild amongst nature.
Chris said: “It’s going to test my physical and mental strength, it will be hard and this will be the most intense trip I’ve ever done.”
Next year, Chris is already planning on either riding a freight train across America or he will be going back to Asia and travelling through Bangladesh, Northern India, Afghanistan and Pakistan to raise even more money for Andy’s Man Club.
To follow Chris’s journey, head to: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BLmS4iQ82/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Fundraising link: https://gofund.me/9a0c98f0e