Over 400 miles separate Derby from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but that is the walk that one Movember fundraiser will face – via a climb of the O2 Arena as well.
Chantal Barker, 21, set off on her solo sponsored walk on 24 April and aims to reach the iconic landmark of the French capital in just under three weeks.
Not shying away from adding more excitement to an already herculean task, the event security personnel worker will be climbing the O2 Arena when she passes through London later this month.
Barker said: “I thought I’m in London anyway, people climb the O2 Arena as a challenge on its own.
“So, why not add that into this walk as well and do twice the charity work?
“It’s something I want to do anyway, so it’s a win-win for every situation.”
To reach her goal on time, Barker will have to walk for nine hours on some of the stretches of the challenge as she has meticulously planned her route to be achievable for that timeframe.
She chose to fundraise for Movember, with the goal being to raise £2,500, as she feels that men in her area are discouraged from talking about their physical and mental health.
The 21-year-old was shocked by male mental health statistics, such as men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women, and 40% of 1,000 men surveyed by Priory Group admitted to not talking about their mental health.
Barker said: “It’s almost as if men are kind of like shut out from speaking about their health and well-being, whereas, like with women and children, it’s very widely spread and encouraged to speak up.
“Nobody should be ashamed or embarrassed of it [mental health].
“So if my challenge can even encourage one person to speak up, then it’ll absolutely be worth it.”
No stranger to fundraising, having done bake sales and runs for cancer charities in the past, Barker was inspired by Henry Moores and his well-documented walk from Manchester to Wayne Lineker’s club, Ocean Beach, in Ibiza.
She said: “That guy walking to Ibiza, that’s quite far.
“This is only one ferry away for my first challenge, like this. I didn’t want to be too extra.”
Barker will start her 419-mile trek in Derby, going through Loughborough, Milton Keynes, London, Newhaven, and after arriving in France via Dieppe she will walk through the French countryside until she reaches Paris.
Initially planning to camp across the country, Barker approached hotels along her route as the dangers of being on her own made outdoor living unfeasible.
Six hotels have agreed to house Barker along her challenge so far, but she is still without planned accommodation when going through many major cities on her journey and would greatly appreciate any interested hotels to get in contact.
If the walk wasn’t daunting enough, she will also be putting herself through rejection therapy, the idea of desensitising yourself to the fear of being told no, by asking usually ludicrous requests throughout the challenge.
Something people also might see as ludicrous is the aforementioned walk up the O2 Arena.
Barker said: “I’m getting very nervous, but there’s no way I’m going to give up.
“I’m 100% going to do it, like with mental health, that’s the challenge every day, and you can’t, well, I suppose you can give up, but you don’t want to give up, do you with mental health?
“So this challenge, I’m not going to give up, and I’ll keep pushing through.”
Movember’s country director UK & Europe Anne-Cecile Berthier said: “We wish Chantal the best of luck and she has our full support as she embarks on her journey to raise awareness for men’s mental health.
“Movember is grateful for her passion to encourage more men to speak up and receive help as we know that too many men suffer, with figures showing that three out of four deaths by suicide in the UK are by men.”
You can donate to Chantal Barker’s page via this link.
Photo Credit: Chantal Barker
Featured Image Credit: K Howard on Unsplash
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