Having walked more than 1,300,000 steps for Les Bourgs Hospice during August, raising more than £4,000 in the process, Greg Josey is now thinking about what he can do next.
As a keen competitor in Guernsey Athletics Club races, parkrun, charity runs, and other challenges including the Saffery Rotary Walk, and the 30 Bays swims for Les Bourgs, he’s not one to sit still for long anyway.
Now, he’s considering what he could do next August to top this summer’s exploits.
He’d set himself the challenge of walking one million steps across the 31 days of August this year. He also set himself a £500 fundraising challenge.
He hit both targets well ahead of the end of the month, eventually walking 1,324,905 steps and raising £4160 at the time of writing.
“The event went very well,” he said.
“I hit a million steps a week before the 31 day challenge ended, so I decided just to keep going. I did 1.3 million steps in the 31 days and it was really exciting. I had loads of support from the community, and it just kept getting bigger so I just kept going.
“On the final day, I did over 100,000 steps. I’ve raised over £4,000 pounds, and obviously it’s still coming in, and I’m looking at doing (another challenge) next year.
“I’m not sure what, or what format it’s going to take, but I’ll definitely be doing something.”
Greg is already thinking about what next August’s challenge might be – and whether it will be another solo event or open to other people to join in with him to raise money for Les Bourgs Hospice.
“(Walking) 1.5 million steps as possible, a marathon a day, or walk up a few steps rather than doing steps… There’re loads of places in Guernsey where you could do something that’s challenging,” he said.
“If it’s just me, it might be something crazy, but if it gets any bigger with other people involved, it might be in teams. So I have to have a think, and have a chat with Les Bourgs, talk to my wife, and just see how it goes.”
Greg said some people have already said they’d like to be involved, but he knows how much willpower is involved in seeing such a physical challenge through to the very end.
“Other people have said it looked quite easy and other people have said they’d get involved, and then they saw how many steps I did and saw that it is a commitment. The thing about raising money is you’ve got to be committed. You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to have it in your heart. Your head will tell you ‘no’ some days, but you just have to get out there and do it.
“To be honest, it’s the community of Guernsey that, when they donate every day, gets you out the next day. It doesn’t matter if it’s £1, if it’s £10 or couple of hundred pounds, that really gives you a high every day.
“When I got home (from walks) and the emails came in, it was making me go out the next day. People were hooting, tooting, shouting across the roads, and even on the last day, a few people at the Guernsey Mind 10K race that I didn’t know that came up to me and said ‘congratulations, brilliant effort’, and I didn’t know them.
“I’ve had people contact me that had connections with Les Bourgs Hospice that I don’t know who have donated, and that was a real heart warming feeling inside.
It gave me such a boost.”
To donate to Les Bourgs you can use Greg’s Justgiving link HERE.
