Hucknall man to complete epic coast to coast cycle challenge in memory of daughter's mum

Paul Duda will be competing in the three-day coast to coast challenge over 137 miles from Whitehaven to North Shields in August, going through the Lake District and the Pennines.

He is doing it in memory of his daughter’s mum, who tragically took her own life last year.

And Paul, an emergency medical technician with East Midlands Ambulance Service in Nottingham, will also be raising money for TASC (The Ambulance Service Charity) and The Childrens Bereavement Centre, both of whom did so much to help Paul and his 11-year-old daughter in the aftermath of his wife’s death.

Paul said: “Most people doing this stay in a B&B each night but I’m going to be camping out each night and carrying all my gear.

"If you’re going to ask people for money, you’ve got to make it a worthwhile challenge.

"I’m riding for TASC, which is in Coventry, because we had so much help from them when my daughter’s mum took her own life last year.

"They’ve helped us loads, with counselling and a financial help as I had to go part-time at EMAS to look after my daughter.

"The Children’s Bereavement Centre in Newark has also been giving counselling to Olivia, my daughter, which has only recently started because of the delays caused by Covid.

"I just felt I wanted to give something back because both TASC and The Children’s Bereavement Centre have been amazing and I just thought I’d like to chuck something back into the coffers for them for the next person.

"So I was thinking about what I could do and I’d always fancied doing the coast to coast challenge.”

Paul has a JustGiving page open now for donations and he is already past £1,800 – much to his amazement.

He said: “I thought I’d only get a few hundred quid so to have this much already is brilliant.

"I’ve got a target of £2,000, so if I can give each charity £1,000 each, that will kind of cover what they’ve done for me and Olivia.

"I’m one of those people who struggles to take things off people and they have gone above and beyond for me and I just want to give something back.”