After a sluggish few months and a very a weird year, James Joseph wanted to start 2021 with a new challenge to help him to get out of bed! He decided to try and raise some money for the Cardiff & Vale Health Charity Breast Centre Appeal as in his own words “they did such an amazing job taking care of my mum last year”. James’ goal was to raise £500 by repeatedly running up Custom House Hill in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan until he reached the equivalent height of Mount Everest (29,029ft). James gave himself the whole of January to tackle this awesome challenge.
James started his challenge on 1st January 2021, and was off to a great start completing 7.28mile run with an elevation of 1847.09ft, and kept at it through wind, rain, hail, sunshine and snow finishing on 28th January 2021 reaching 29,029ft of elevation by running up and down a 84ft hill approximately 345 times of the course of the month. James has raised over £1,000 for the Breast Centre Appeal, absolutely smashing his original target.
For anyone asking why James chose to do this challenge, his answer was “I’m trying not to let the world beat me at the moment, instead of worrying about the things that are out of my control, I’m focusing on the things I do have control of. I had huge plans for 2020 and 2021 with music and travel, but now my sole focus is to try and use 2021 to better myself”.
James also said “I’d recommend other people try and challenge themselves for charity during these strange times, it’s been so nice for me to feel a sense of achievement at the moment and getting a bit of fresh air and exercise does wonders for my mental health!
“Also if people are looking to get into running, I’m part of a lovely community called Running Punks!”
The Health Charity and Breast Centre teams have thoroughly enjoyed watching James complete this very personal challenge during the past month, and would like to celebrate his incredible achievement on this World Cancer Day 2021.
For any support with fundraising, or to find out more about how to support Cardiff & Vale Health Charity and the Breast Centre Appeal, please visit: www.healthcharity.wales or email fundraising.cav@wales.nhs.uk To support James with a donation please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jamesjosephxvxeverestrun