Marathon charity challenge to start at John O' Groats in bid to raise £60,000 for British Heart Foundation
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A FORMER armed forces skiing trainer sets off from John O' Groats today (Friday) at the start of a mammoth ten-week charity challenge in a bid to raise £60,000 for the British Heart Foundation.
David Sullivan, who is 58 and comes from Surrey in England, will be walking over 1,000 miles and making an estimated quarter of a million golf shots at various courses on the way before he reaches his final destination, Land’s End.
The money raised by The World’s Longest Golf Hole challenge will help place life-saving defibrillators in villages, towns and cities up and down the country. At every one of David’s 70 stops, he will be training local people for free on how to save lives using Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). It is a lifesaving technique used in emergencies, such as a heart attack or near drowning, in which someone's breathing or heartbeat has stopped.
His passion for teaching people CPR came about when he was faced with a life-or-death situation. When a young man experienced a cardiac arrest in front of him, David luckily knew what to do. He gave CPR for 17 minutes until the man could be treated with a defibrillator.
"It was thanks to my training, and a defibrillator being nearby, that I was able to help save the man, who luckily made a full recovery. When something like that happens right in front of you, it makes you realise how precious life is and how important it is to know what to do in that kind of emergency. It was an experience which profoundly affected me, and now it’s my mission to create an army of life savers all over the country," he said.
David, who will be joined on the challenge by his son Freddie, 21, hopes his charity challenge will help teach as many people as possible the life-saving skill of CPR and will ensure that many more locations in the country are equipped with defibrillators.
They will set off from Groats and arrive at Wick Golf Club about 3pm. The following day (Sat) they will be at Dunbeath fire station and plan to be Helmsdale harbour on Monday (June 14) and at Brora Golf Club the day after. They also intend to visit several other golf clubs in the Highlands, including Dornoch, as they make their way south.
American Golf is sponsoring the challenge. Chief executive, Gary Favell, who decribed David as "a true inspiration" said: "We wish him every success on his mission."
Donations can be made by visiting www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/david-sullivan-77.
Companies wishing to get involved in helping to fund a defibrillator in their region should visit www.creatinglifesavers.com
