Rainy Day Trust CEO, Bryan Clover successfully completed a gruelling 100km non-stop hike last weekend to raise much-needed funds to help the charity continue to offer vital support to people within the home improvement, housewares and garden sector amid soaring energy bills.

On Saturday, 10 September, Bryan Clover set out from Putney Bridge at the start of the Thames Path Ultra; a mammoth 100km non-stop hike to Henley on Thames, which must be completed in under 24 hours. 

He undertook the tough challenge in a bid to raise the money needed to support the Rainy Day Trusts ‘Let’s Save Energy’ campaign, which gives away free low energy items – including LED lightbulbs and eco shower heads – to help reduce energy bills at a time when so many are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

The event was no small endeavour and, despite 712 hikers starting the continuous challenge from Putney Bridge on Saturday, as many as 162 withdrew from the race over the course of the day, mostly due to injury. Impressively, Bryan set off at 7:40am and crossed the finish line at Henley on Thames at 5:21am the following morning, having completed the punishing 100km hike in 21 hours and 41 minutes. 

He placed 240^th overall for his route and was extremely proud of this achievement, exclaiming: “When you consider that I was certainly old enough to be most participants’ father, I’m quite chuffed with that placing!” 

There were a total of seven checkpoints along the route, which recorded participants’ progress and offered medical care, water and snacks to keep hikers sustained. Bryan drank a whopping 27 litres of water during the challenge and joked that he probably also “ate my body-weight in bananas!”.  

The blisters and aching limbs he sustained along the way were all for a good cause, as the Rainy Day Trust’s Let’s Save Energy campaign works to help a great number of individuals across the industries that the charity supports. The initiative has proved to be a very effective way of enabling people to cut their bills by up to £250 a year, which makes a significant difference for struggling households. 

Bryan explained: “The government has frozen bills, which is great, but we need to remember that they have been frozen at a level that hundreds of thousands of people still can’t afford. The government support, whilst welcome, hasn’t helped people, it has just stopped it getting worse. Charities like us are left to pick up the pieces.”

He also thanked the businesses that so generously supported the hike – Addis Homeware, Cowal Building Supplies, Home Hardware, Kuhn Rikon, Monument Tools, QEP-Vitrex and Workhouse Marketing.

Meanwhile, there is still time to support this great initiative and recognise Bryan’s immense achievement by donating via his fundraising page here.