AHEAD of this Saturday’s Welsh Champion Hurdle, Ffos Las Racecourse will be delighted to play host to intrepid charity walker Richard Farquhar.
Richard is in the middle of ‘Walking The Courses’, a mission to walk to all 59 of the UK’s racecourses in a bid to raise £1.4m for Pancreatic Cancer, in memory of his father, and Racing Welfare.
In all he will cover 3,000 miles over 13 months after beginning the round-Britain trek in March 2015. The Ludlow Racecourse to Ffos Las leg will see Richard reach the most westerly point of his journey and he admits the 92-mile trek will be one of his toughest.
Richard, who has been involved in racing all his life whether as a job or as a pastime, is set to do the latest leg of the walk in five days from and once he gets to Ffos Las he will also walk a lap of the course.
He has been looking forward to the Ludlow to Ffos Las despite it being one of the longest of his walks.
“When we set up the itinerary the Ffos Las walk was always one that had the potential to be difficult, but having said that it is also going to be a beautiful walk and if we get a lovely still February week it could be very memorable.
“Although I will have eight walks left including the 85-mile leg from Ffos Las to Chepstow in March I reckon that once I have completed Ludlow to Ffos Las I will have the feeling that I have broken the back of the 13-month challenge.”
Added Richard: “After I lost my father to pancreatic cancer in 2012, I hatched the seeds of an idea to try to raise significant funds for charity. Racing is my passion.
“It has given me a huge amount of pleasure over the years and, without any doubt, some of the best moments of my life. I owe racing a debt for all that it has given me. Racing Welfare makes a positive difference to people’s lives by empowering them and helping them to overcome any difficulties they face – before it’s too late.”
The walk is due to end back where he started at Newmarket Racecourse for the Craven Meeting on April 14, a fixture he attended for 26 consecutive years with his father, to whose memory ‘Walking The Courses’ is dedicated.
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