WALK4MATT 2024 COMPLETES 100-MILE GRAND UNION CANAL CHALLENGE
More than 50 participants completed Walk4Matt 2024, conquering 100 miles and 100 locks of the Grand Union Canal while raising funds for the Matt Hampson Foundation.
After an 11-year absence, the fundraising event returned to its traditional home, following the route of the Grand Union Canal, this time travelling north between Twickenham and Rugby.
Ahead of the walk, a team of volunteers from the Peter Le Marchant Trust, regular boaters with Union Canal Carriers and the Foundation took the eight narrowboats from Braunston to Brentford in readiness for the week’s walkers to take on their 100-mile challenge on the return journey.
Both groups attended the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham before Walk4Matt kicked off, covering up to 18 miles a day with overnight accommodation on the boats and finishing with an evening at the CV22 venue in Rugby.
After reaching the finish line at Union Canal Carriers, Foundation chairman Roy Jackson said: “We’ve had a wonderful week. It is an effort, it is hard work, but all for a great cause. I’d like to thank everyone involved.”
First runner
Former Leicester Tigers rugby players Dean Richards, Andy Key, Wayne Richardson and Martin Whitcombe shared in the full week, with team-mate Barry Evans among the walkers who joined along the way.
Foundation supporter Felix Lloyd-Davies became the first support to run the full 100-mile distance.
“Support from the public and the team involved in Walk4Matt has been amazing,” he said. “It is one adventure I will not soon forget.”
Click here for our Walk4Matt photo gallery.
Following his accident in 2005, former Leicester Tigers and England Under-21s rugby player Matt Hampson established the Foundation to provide support for other young people to rebuild their lives after catastrophic injury through sport and opened the Get Busy Living Centre in Leicestershire to provide specialist physiotherapy and personal training, mentoring and advice to help people with life-changing injuries. He was awarded an OBE in 2021 for his incredible achievements.
