My Passion with Kevin Wideman: The hills are alive for a man dedicated to raising cash for charity

Kevin Wideman, associate director of property management at GVA in Leeds, talks about his passion for hill walking.

Having grown up in Halifax, everywhere is uphill, so going into the Dales, Lakes or Scotland from an early age with my parents was just an extension to a local stroll and set the tone for what has developed into a lifelong hobby.

My first serious hill walk was at the age of 13 when I completed the Lyke Wake Walk, approximately 40 miles over the North York Moors from Osmotherley to Ravenscar.

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Over the years, I’ve taken part in many organised walks, particularly the Halifax Long March, which is 26 miles overnight from Easter Sunday to Monday starting at midnight – the aim is to finish no later than 10am on Monday, and so far I’ve never failed.

I hill walk anywhere and everywhere; I never leave home without the boots in the back of the car and have slept on Snowdon and seen the sunrise from the top of Scafell Pike.

I think I’ve walked literally thousands of miles – and gained many blisters – but I’ve also managed to turn my passion into a good deed and have raised copious amounts of cash for charity. Through the generosity of many people, I raised more than £1,500 on the Cornish Coastal Walk and, on average, I raise £500 a year for the Long March.

I’ve also just successfully completed a sponsored walk with other members of the GVA team which was in excess of around 30 miles.

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This is the second year running we’ve taken on this ‘stroll’, and we have raised more than £13,000 for two charities.

A 20-strong team from the Leeds office all swapped their desk jobs for the gruelling 12+ hour trek which started at Cray, in the Yorkshire Dales, and included 5,000 foot of ascent taking in Buckden Pike, Penyghent, Plover Hill etc.

The team fundraised for both Candlelighters Trust and Whizz Kidz, GVA’s national charity of the year.

In total, we raised £7,500 for the Candlelighters Trust, taking our total fundraising efforts for the charity to an impressive £19,500 following the successful completion of the walk last year.

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As part of GVA’s national fund-raising mission for Whizz Kidz, we were corporately sponsored 50p per mile, which raised £5,700.

For me, the best things about hiking is that it’s very social and you get to experience the changing seasons first hand. But, ultimately, it’s the sense of achievement, completing a gruelling challenge and the adrenaline rush you get at the end

In the future, I’d love to complete the whole South-West Coastal Path, from Minehead in Somerset, to Poole Harbour in Dorset, in one go, which is roughly 640 miles – although I’m not sure I can class a month off as lieu time.