Three fund-raising friends have become the first to get on and off trains at all 60 Tyne and Wear Metro stations in one day.
The marathon feat took them 15 hours and has raised thousands of pounds for 11 North East charities.
Steve Wilkinson, Paul Lawton and Phil Pugh began their journey on the first Metro of the day at Newcastle Airport and eventually finished at St James’ just after 10pm last night (Tuesday).
Sixty-two-year-old Steve from Kingston Park, who is also known as campaigner Wheelchair Steve, said: “The weather made it much harder than we expected. The last leg was really tough. It was freezing coming in from the coast.”
He had the idea for the Metro 60 Challenge a few years ago after studying the train timetable and finding it was possible to visit every station inside a day.
The challenge was supported by DB Regio Tyne and Wear – which operates Metro on behalf of Nexus. It has asked Steve for any thoughts on how the service for wheelchair passengers can be further improved.
The charities benefiting from the challenge are: The Sunshine Fund, 4 Louis, Hope for Kidz, Silverline Memories, Heal and Toe Children’s Charity, Coco, Downs Syndrome North East, NE Autism, Tiny Lives, Off The Rail Kids and Willow Burn Hospice.
They already receive free web chat support from Paul Lawton’s company Chat Heroes. ““It made sense to help Steve achieve his dream and at the same time assist the good causes we already work with. I just wish he’d had the idea a few years ago before the Metro was extended,” he said.
Bradley French, the Overseas Operations Manager with COCO, said: “We are hugely grateful to Steve, Paul and Phil for their efforts on the Metro 60 Challenge. All proceeds to COCO will be used to provide sustainable solutions to the problems preventing children in East Africa from accessing education.”
Willow Burn Hospice’s Income Generation and Marketing Manager Katherine Luke: “We are so grateful to all the people who are prepared to put themselves through really tough challenges to help raise money for charities in the North East. We would not exist without fantastic efforts such as the Metro 60 Challenge.”
Steve said the trio are unlikely to repeat yesterday’s marathon journey. “It’s been done now…but I’m sure we can come up with something else.”