A Burton man who braved high winds and relentless rain on an epic 105-mile trek across the Scottish Highlands has raised more than £1,600 for a charity which helps "butterfly children" suffering from a rare skin condition.
Steve Buckley, 38, tackled the Rat Race Coast-2-Coast challenge with his friend Stewart Macpherson, 42, a father-of-two also from Burton.
The pair battled everything the Scottish weather could throw at them, running, mountain biking and kayaking from Nairn on the shores of the North Sea to Fort William on the north Atlantic coast along a route past Cawdor Castle, Loch Ness, Glen Nevis and Glen Coe.
The duo took on the mammoth challenge on September 9 and 10 in aid of the national charity DEBRA which supports individuals and families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a group of genetic skin conditions which causes skin to blister and tear at the slightest touch.
Those born with EB are so fragile they are often referred to as 'butterfly children' because their skin is as fragile as the wing of a butterfly. Children suffer most, as they don’t understand the condition and their parents often struggle to hold them for fear of blistering or tearing their child’s skin.
Steve, who works as a regional risk manager at Arriva Midlands, said: "This race was a true challenge, the hardest I have had to date and an extremely painful one. I was sore everywhere!
"However, we knew that in a few days we would recover while those who suffer with EB have to deal with ten times that amount of pain every day and that really pushed us on.
"We would both do it again in a heartbeat knowing that the money raised is really going to make a difference to the lives of so many people."
The two-day trip involved climbing 10,620 feet and took the pair 13 hours and 20 minutes to finish. Steve and Stewart finished in 265th place in the run, which 1,050 people started but only 950 completed.
Steve said: "We picked DEBRA because EB is such a horrible, upsetting condition for both the individual sufferer and their family. It is a condition that very few people know about and there is no cure.
"Sometimes these lesser-known causes receive so little press coverage or public attention and yet these can be the charities that need the most support. We are delighted to be raising the profile of EB and the courage of those patients who are living with it."
All of the sponsorship money needed for Steve and Stewart to enter the race was donated by Simon Shakespeare of Shakespeare Pharma Ltd, which is based in Hilton.
To support Steve and Stewart visit here
