Dariusz Wietecha walked 24 hours to raise money for charity

Dariusz Wietecha at the Relay for Life

Originally from Poland, Dariusz Wietecha now lives in Rochdale and took part in the Cancer Research Relay for Life raising £300 for the charity.

Dariusz said: “My walk was very exhausting because at a quarter of the way I had huge bruises on my feet due to the wrong shoes. I planned to do more than 100km but every step after two hours from the start was really painful.”

Dariusz decided to take part in the walk after being inspired by Thomas McCabe. Thomas completed a 24 hour walk last year.

Sponsorship for Dariusz came from work colleagues and friends with his work place offering to double his final fundraising total.

He said: “I started to collect money amongst my friends and from my work place. What was interesting is that people without me even telling them would come to me when I wore an event t-shirt and were asking what charity it was for. When I explained that the money was going to Cancer Research they just gave me money.”

Dariusz described parts of the event as “emotional” after participants lit candles to represent those who had died due to cancer.

He said: “The very emotional moment was lighting all of the candles around the track. People stopped to read names on the candles and were praying for those who passed away.”

Dariusz added: “I would like to say a big thank you to all of my sponsors and people who helped me on the track to the prevent me from being really tired and even falling asleep.”