A Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) pilot will undertake a 50-mile run from Caldbeck in the North Lakes to Cartmel in the South.
Owen McTeggart, from Kendal, is to take on the Lakes in a Day challenge on October 8 to raise money to support the charity’s Pride of Cumbria aircraft.
The route includes a 4,000m ascent of Helvellyn, England’s third highest mountain.
Mr McTeggart, who is a regular mountain walker and also a keen hill runner, said: “The event will be taking place at the back end of the year after the summer months, so hopefully the weather won’t have an effect on the run. I’d like to see nice clear skies.”
The 43-year-old is no stranger to long distance hill runs; he has previously taken place in the Cheviot 2000, a 23 mile run across the 11 Northumbrian peaks, and also the Wales 1000m peaks race, a 19.8-mile run across the Welsh hills.
Mr McTeggart will be passing through locations in the Lake District which he would normally visit as part of his day job – airlifting seriously ill and injured patients. In 2015 alone, GNAAS flew 455 missions across Cumbria.
He said: “GNAAS attend a lot of incidents across Cumbria, the incidents vary from walkers, runners, paragliders and many others and it is no stranger to us to have to land on the fells. I will pass some places that we regularly attend like Windermere, Ambleside and I will run over Helvellyn.
“This event is a good opportunity for me to see the fells in a positive way whilst raising funds for such a vital public funded charity.”
Mandy Drake, head of fundraising at the charity, said: “To have our own crew out there undertaking extreme challenges such as this, all to raise money for the air ambulance, just shows how much they believe in what we are doing. We would like to thank Owen for his fundraising and wish him well on his journey. It is exactly this kind of enthusiasm and dedication that keeps our aircraft flying.”
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