Thousands raise funds on Keswick to Barrow walk

3:10pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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ALMOST 2,000 people walked 40 miles through the county to raise a quarter of a million pounds for charity.

The 42nd Keswick to Barrow Walk saw 1,965 people hike through some of the finest Cumbrian landscapes, past Thirlmere, going over Dunmail Raise, through Grasmere and Elterwater and past Tarn Hows and along the shores of Coniston Water.

Organisers from BAE Systems, in Barrow, who supported the event, said the walkers managed to raise around £250,000 for various charities.

Marianne Buchanan, a member of the organising committee, said: "People said they really enjoyed it. It was a nice day. They said it is the camaraderie on the walk that makes it."

Mrs Buchanan said that it attracted people because it was seen as a tough challenge. "There was a woman who ran the London Marathon and she said the London Marathon had nothing on this," she said.

The walk originated in 1967 as a challenge between workers at the then Vickers shipyard, the Royal Navy and American consultants working with them in Barrow.

It followed a remark by the then US president John F. Kennedy that an American should be able to walk 50 miles a day.