THE thick Asian rainforest will not stand in the way of one Castle man aiming to raise money for charity later this year.

Richard Carter, 31, will fly out to Indonesia in September to take on the Sumatra Survival Trek, which will see him battle dense jungles and soaring humidity.

But Richard is no stranger to intense challenges such as this.

He has already raised thousands by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and trekking through the Amazon rainforest and in Madagascar in the past three years.

“I’ve done a couple of events of this type of event in the past for Asthma UK in memory of my brother,” he said.

Northwich Guardian:

“I’m doing this challenge in Indonesia for The Christie in memory of my wife Rebecca’s father, David Hastie, who sadly died from lung cancer last year.

“The charity helped him so much so it will be good to give something back.

For Richard, completing challenges such as this gives him the opportunity to visit places around the world that he wouldn’t normally have the chance to visit, despite their arduous nature.

“It’s more of a challenge when you’re trekking through the jungle, especially mentally,” he continued.

“The challenges are obviously physical as well, especially Madagascar, which was uphill for a lot of the way and in 40-degree heat, which really tires you out.

“You definitely get a lot more out of doing this sort of challenge as they are more unique, and people tend to get behind you a bit more as well.”

Northwich Guardian:

Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and its resultant lockdown in the UK, training and fundraising is proving to be more difficult than usual.

But Richard is hoping the outbreak will pass in the coming months so that he can step preparations up a gear.

“I’m currently training as much as possible and I run when I can,” he added.

“I used to do a lot of swimming training, but obviously I can’t do that now during the lockdown.

Northwich Guardian:

“We had a few charity events planned to raise some money, but they are also on hold at the minute.

“It was good to hold one of the events recently, a pub quiz, and we will sort out some dates for others in the future.”

Money raised will help to provide life-saving equipment and research to The Christie, and most importantly, help to give tens of thousands of patients the very best chance of beating cancer.

If you would like to donate and help Rich’s appeal, you can do so via justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-carter41.