Stalwart Steve Eustice is the latest WIFC player to take on a challenge to raise funds for the club’s chosen charity, DebRa. The striker, who has made over 130 appearances for the club since joining in 2000, is taking on the 2012km Gold Challenge, which is being run in association with the British Olympic Association and is part of the build up to the London Games. The goal is to run, row, swim and cycle a total of 2,012km by the time the Olympics starts. That’s the equivalent of London to Morocco or Bulgaria and works out at about 16km a day.
Steve Eustice, with son James
“I’d been looking for a challenge for a while. I am, as those who know me will confirm, not a natural athlete. Every year I promise to myself that I’ll get fit in time for Worldnet and every time it comes to nothing. Not this year though” said Eustice. “Added to that is the fact that I’ve wanted to do something to raise money for DebRa, a charity that means a lot, not just to me, but all of us at WIFC. Knowing how many requests people get for sponsorship, it had to be something pretty big, a proper challenge, that I could justify hassling people for support. To put it in context, I’ve never run more than 10km, rowed more than 1km, I haven’t owned a bike since I was 18 and I really, really hate swimming!
DebRa has long been the chosen charity of WIFC, which is the national charity working on behalf of people in the UK with the genetic skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). Grace and Freddie Fincham, the two eldest children of Pete Fincham, one of the club’s original members, have the condition. A number of fund raising events have been held over the years, not least a match against a team of Watford FC legends in 2009. It it hoped Steve’s efforts will help the club extend the total they’ve raised, which stood at over £10,000 at the end of 2011.
“If anyone can spare a few quid in support it would mean the world to me and will help fund the great work that DebRA do” added Eustice. “You can donate and track my progress, it’ll all be logged here – www.goldchallenge.org/gc/user/steveeustice. I’ll provide some updates along the way through twitter (@steveeustice) and Facebook”
Everyone at WIFC wishes Steve the best of luck for the challenge ahead.