Five Fifers trek 50 miles to support people facing mental health issues

Chris Caven, along with four mates, wanted to challenge themselves, to raise funds for a very worthy charity, and to do it in honour of friends no longer here as a result of mental health issues.

The five lads decided that a charity walk from Edinburgh to Glasgow was just the thing. It was a challenge right enough and at the same time they hoped it would raise a decent amount of funding for the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH).

And what a challenge it turned out to be. The weather broke as they started walking and it literally tipped it down between Edinburgh and Glasgow all through the night.

It was a 15 hour walk and they didn’t make it entirely unscathed, but limping into Glasgow, all five intrepid walkers were amazed to find that they had managed to raise £2,500.

Chris told the Gazette: “After my own situation, I know there needs to be more help and awareness for mental health in Scotland.

"I chose SAMH as its a well known mental health charity. The work they do is great and for every penny we’ve raised if it can help someone suffering that’s great.

The challenge was a 50 mile walk that started at Tynecastle Stadium to Ibrox Stadium. The route was chosen as three of the boys support Hearts while the remaining two are Rangers fans.

Chris continued: “We set off at 8:00pm and arrived at Ibrox around 11.30am the next morning. It was the toughest thing me and the lads have ever done mentally and physically - blood sweat and tears from us all – quite literally!

"We all had to push each other to the finish, blistered and bruised we may have been, but we got there eventually. “We managed to raise £2500 for SAMH via my JustGiving page: (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/chris-caven). We need to encourage more young males to speak about mental health. We’ve lost some mates close to home in the last few years due to it.”The walkers were: Chris Caven, Ryan Smith, Craig Black all from Glenrothes, Darren Smith of Dunfermline and Jamie Crilly of Stonehouse in Lanarkshire.

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