A Morecambe FC stalwart who’s raising money for a Mazuma Memorial Garden is back pounding the streets of North Lancashire again after a freak accident meant he had to pause his one million step challenge.
Derek Quinn had challenged himself to walk a million steps in a month to raise funds for a Memorial Garden at the Mazuma Stadium, before he badly broke both of his wrists in a fall while on holiday.
Derek had made a great start to the challenge, racking up 304,325 steps and covering 211 kilometres in his first eight days, before the accident suffered while he was on holiday, which required him to have an operation.
Quinny is now recovering, and back out walking, determined to complete the challenge for the cause.
You can listen to our chat with Quinny here:
Derek takes up the story: ‘’I was in holiday in Tenerife, smashing the steps, and I literally tripped over a bollard outside a shopping centre. I’d love to say I was doing something exciting! I fell over and broke both of my wrists, just a freak accident.
‘’I had surgery the next day with pins and screws in both wrists and it’s been a real nuisance. I just have to get on with it.
‘’The challenge isn’t going to 31 consecutive days now, but 31 individual walking days. The idea is to now finish at the Sunderland game on the last day of the season, which is another 460,000 steps in 15 days. Hopefully the sun will come out again!
‘’I’ve always got that little niggle I might fall over again, but I’ll just get on with it.’’
Derek has already raised around £1,550 plus some cash donations, but my goal is now to raise £4,000, so the Memorial Garden can be as impressive as it can be, along with the Shrimps Trust.
Derek adds: ‘’There’s a plot of land where it go outside of the stadium. I’d rather it would be outside so people can come whenever they want.
‘’We can hopefully create something attractive and somewhere you actually want to sit in a nice area.’’
Fans will be invited to take part in walking part of the way with Derek over the coming weeks, as Derek explains further. ‘’These ‘Wellness Walks’ are something I’ve been keen to do,’’ he said. ‘’Hopefully the weather will be good and we can put some more on, even maybe after the challenge has finished.’’
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