Great grandad raises thousands after exceeding target for year-long walking challenge for Warwick charity

Tony Cunningham, from Coventry, has now raised more than £8,200 for Molly Ollys by clocking up over 5,050 miles (around 10 million steps) on his early morning laps around Coventry’s Memorial Park.

He completed the challenge in September but vowed to keep walking and fundraising until the end of the year.

Tony has also overcome health issues and extreme weather conditions along the way.

He said: “Several things keep me motivated. Most of all I don’t want to let down the children and their families who are helped by Molly Ollys.

“Getting up at 5am and walking between 10 and 18 miles every day is a challenge in itself, but the weather can make it even more so.

"By far the worst weather conditions I’ve encountered were the four named storms we had this year when I was soaked to the skin because once you’re drenched that’s the way you stay until you can get a hot bath and some dry clothes on.

“On the two days of extreme hot temperatures in the summer I was advised not to walk due to be classed as extremely vulnerable.

“I missed seven days in the park, although I still walked some distance, on one occasion I was in hospital with suspected blood clots, and on another occasion I had a chest infection which I’m prone to.

"I said at the outset that I didn’t know if I could complete this challenge, I must confess to a sense of achievement.”

It’s the daily support that Tony will most reflect on when he completes his final lap on New Year’s Eve.

He has also been spurred on every day by the memory of his late wife Jackie of 47 years, who died of cancer last year.

As well as a sense of pride, Tony has forged new friendships and will look back on his year as one of the best adventures of his life.

His most poignant memories include meeting three mums in the park whose children have been helped by the charity and bumping into two nurses at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, who helped him through his own operation five years ago.

Warwick-based Molly Ollys was established following the death of Rachel and Tim Ollerenshaw’s eight-year-old daughter Molly from a rare kidney cancer and marked its tenth anniversary this year.

The charity supports children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

It helps with emotional support and donates wishes, therapeutic toys and books to children directly and through hospitals across the UK.

Rachel said: “What an truly amazing man Tony is. To think that he has racked up more than 5,000 miles across 2022 is really hard to get my head around.

"For most people, the very notion of getting up every single day and walking mostly the same route of 14/15 miles would be overwhelming and overbearing, but Tony is an extraordinary person who is determined to make a difference.

“Tony has raised more than £8k for Molly Ollys which will make such a difference to the families that we support.”

To donate go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/anthony-cunningham5