Team take on Tough Mudder challenge in memory of friend

THESE Tough Mudders raised more than £5,000 for a cancer charity after the disease killed a close friend last year – and they won't stop there.

Jake Lamming and Tom Nicholson lost friend Adam Drinkell, of Laceby, in August after he died following a two-year battle with cancer, aged 24.

After his death, they organised a battle of their own and put a team together for Tough Mudder, a 12-mile endurance test through thick mud and rivers in the freezing cold with 25 military obstacles.

Twenty people took on the challenge, mostly members of Oasis Health Club where Jake is a personal trainer, including one member of staff who fractured her leg on the first obstacle but carried on and completed the event.

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Now all the sponsorship is in, it was all worthwhile, having raised a total of £5,487 for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Jake, 24, of Barnoldby-le-Beck, said: "We set ourselves this huge target, but never really thought we would get there – we're really pleased with it.

"It was a tough day and the hardest thing was the cold, but we all got through it and helped each other out a lot.

"Setting up this challenge took all our minds off things when Adam died, but it has kept him in our thoughts too."

Adam spent a lot of the two years he was battling cancer in ward 194 of Leeds Hospital, which is specially tailored to treat young people and teenagers.

Time in the ward made him and his friends – who visited regularly – realise just how much effort and money goes into the treatment it provides.

Tom, 24, of St Nicholas Drive, Grimsby, said: "You don't realise how awful something like cancer is until it happens to someone close to you.

"We would visit and the ward was a different world. It had all the facilities anyone could want, the nurses were really fun and friends could visit whenever we wanted.

"It's not hard to work out that everything they had in that ward costs money and Adam wanted to help, even though he was dying from cancer – that is just the sort of person he was."

The group organised a football tournament before Adam's death which raised £11,000 for the Teenage Cancer Charity in the summer of 2011.

Now the pair are already planning another Tough Mudder event, the Great North Run and the Rat Race – a 20-mile challenge with 200 obstacles.

Jake said: "We might even have to have two teams. It keeps us fit and raises money for a good cause so we'll keep fundraising."

Donate online by visiting www.justgiving.com/grimsbytoughmudder