Five Fab Friends Take on 100km Ultra Challenge to Raise Funds for WNAA in Honour of their Friend

An intrepid team of workmates from Coventry have taken on the ultimate challenge of the 100km Lake District Ultra Challenge to raise funds for the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) who attended the tragic loss of their colleague and friend, Wayne.

Bernadette, John, Ash, Rachel, and Jodie from N-Power took on this challenge after Wayne, who suffered with health complications, was found unresponsive by his girlfriend. Despite the air ambulance attending the scene, Wayne unfortunately passed away at the young age of 38.

“Where do we begin describing the legend that was Wayne aka Rutter, Ruttski, Ruttdog, other than to say we miss him daily. We all shared so many funny times together and his larger-than-life personality and heart of gold has left a void that won’t be filled. We very much want to celebrate the fun we had with Wayne and reminisce on our time spent with him,” said Bernadette.

Wayne’s Mum, Jane, chose to support the vital charity in his honour as well as kindly donating £1,000 to the cause, while Bernadette, John, Ash, Rachel, and Jodie took on the gruelling challenge to raise even more funds.

‘Nothing, not even the amount of training we did, could’ve prepared us for the challenge,” explained Jodie.

The team battled the heat, blisters, and sustained injuries as they attempted this huge feat which caused some problems on the way round. Unfortunately, at 43km, they lost team member Ash after medics refused to allow him to continue, and at 66km, unfortunately Rachel, John and Jodie had to make the heart-breaking decision not to continue, to avoid any permanent damage.

Despite the setbacks, at 2am, Bernadette made the courageous decision to brave the last 34km solo, with nothing but a head torch and her own thoughts for company. At 11am, the battered bunch hobbled down to the finish line to complete the last bit of the walk with her, with emotions running high.

“To see her cross the finish line is something I will never forget, she is an inspiration to us all, sheer grit, passion and determination all the way, we will as a team complete the final km’s we couldn’t do on the day when we are all recovered,” said Jodie.

The amazing team raised £4,715, and their company have generously agreed to match this which means the total raised for WNAA is £9,430 – the cost of five future missions.

“We’d like to extend our huge thanks to everyone who donated, and especially to John, Ash, Rachel, Jodie, and Bernadette for their phenomenal effort in memory of Wayne. Thanks to incredible people like them, we can keep our lifesaving services, and people’s memories, flying,” added Amy Worthington, WNAA Legacies and In Memory Executive.

If you would like to set up a tribute page for your loved one, you can do so here.