Ternhill Sergeant leads team to raise over £5,000 in Mali for Armed Forces charity

From left: Lance Corporal Bohan, Lieutenant Thewlis, Ranger Hayes. Who took part in in the 4 x 4 x 48 challenge for SSAFA

Submitted by Andrew Johnstone

Members of the UK branch of a United Nations mission have taken part in a gruelling challenge to raise money for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

Op Newcombe's Long Range Recce Group (LRRG) are in Mali as the UK's deployment for the UN peacekeeping operation in South Sudan.

Around 90 people from the LRRG and German Taskforce took part in the 4 x 4 x 48 challenge, which saw participants run four miles, every four hours for 48 hours, on New Years Eve, and raised £5,080.

To make the challenge harder, participants had the option to run wearing body armour and carrying a dismantled L111A1 .50-cal heavy machine gun in 35°C.

The challenge was organised by Sergeant Tony McEvilly of 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment, who is now based in Ternhill, Shropshire. Tony set the original target of £1,000, but the team far surpassed that goal.

Tony said: “I knew I wanted to raise money for a military charity, and after reading up on lots of different charities, I chose SSAFA simply because of the wide variety of work it does and the impact it has providing practical, emotional, and financial support to our forces and their families.

“With it being so close to Christmas, and with money a bit tight for some, I set what I thought was an ambitious target of £1,000.

"To have hit five times that amount was a big shock to me, as people really dug deep at a time of year when most people have very little spare money.

“But as well as the amazing amount raised for SSAFA, the Task Group has come together, and we’re planning more events to challenge ourselves and raise money for charities.”

For more information about SSAFA, click here.

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