A Helsby chef will be taking on his ‘biggest challenge to date’ when he skateboards from Mickle Trafford to Llandudno next month in aid of Sport Relief.
Ben Read, 28, is hoping to average six miles per hour and raise £200 to help vulnerable people in both the UK and the world’s poorest countries.
Ben – who juggles work at the White Lion in Alvanley with a food design and home economics degree at Liverpool John Moores University – has been a keen skater since he was a teenager.
No stranger to pushing himself physically, he has completed a number of Helsby Half Marathons and the gruelling Hell Runner assault course, but has been training hard for his imaginative challenge.
He said: “I have put many miles on my skateboard in training for this, although finding a dry day has proved hard. I have introduced an extra training routein at the gym to make sure I have the endurance in my legs and ankles.
“I have also had to adapt my skateboarding stance and learn to push with my right foot, this will take the pressure off my left ankle.”
Ben will be using the Greenway path because it offers miles of straight tarmac and will be accompanied by his brother, Jon Read, for the second and third days of the journey.
Ben came up with the idea for the 50-mile jaunt after hearing about the accomplishments of British adventurer David Cornthwaite, the first person to skateboard the length of Britain, and thought it sounded like ‘a good way to spend the weekend’.
He said: “I was raised with the view that you should always do things to feed your ambition and fill your potential and although it will be a big challenge I believe I will be a better person because of it.
“Even the big charities need people like me challenging themselves to help the lives of others.”
He has since received a message of encouragement and advice from the long-distance skater.
To sponsor Ben, visit
