Keen golfer Chris Rowlands from Gloucester certainly didn’t do things by halves when he dreamt up his epic solo golfathon challenge! Chris decided to raise money for GYC  as the chosen charity partner of the SBD team at Spirax Sarco after a year of events and activities sadly being put on hold due to the pandemic restrictions.

Chris’s golf club at Painswick golf course is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty and the golf course sits atop the Cotswolds escarpment which offers spectacular views of Gloucestershire and the Welsh Mountains and is renown for it’s very steep hills! Chris completed his physically and mentally challenging 5 rounds in the warm July sunshine (90 holes) starting at 6.00am, walking over 30 miles and 550m of hills! Chris raised over £2000 on his Justgiving page and Spirax have very kindly added to the total with a corporate donation. We are so grateful to Chris and Spirax for this incredible fundraising and support of our charity.

Chris said about his challenge  "I work at Spirax Sarco and the division I work within have been partnering with Gloucestershire Young Carers for several years now, unfortunately as an organisation the pandemic has limited our ability to hold fundraising events and our most recent planned event was postponed. Since working with the charity its raised my own awareness of the great work and support provided to the Young Carers in Gloucestershire, its a small local charity and any support makes a huge impact for the young carers. For this reason I wanted to personally support were I could.

I thought about doing this a Golfathon challenge after a golf weekend where I played 3 rounds over three days, and wondered if I could I do 5 rounds in one day!? It was both physically and mentally exhausting and it took just under 14 hours, but I was overwhelmed and motivated by the levels of support and donations from my colleagues at Spirax Sarco, Painswick Golf Club, as well as my friends and family. I'm in a fortunate position as Spirax Sarco strongly believe in giving back to our communities and provide employees 3 days per year for volunteering, this made it easy for me to personally support the charity, being a chosen charity partner Spirax Sarco have also matched the funds I have raised!"

If you or your company would like to take on a challenge for GYC get in touch with our Fundraising Manager Sally today - sally@glosyoungcarers.org.uk