A West Cumbrian man is embarking on a year of challenges to raise money for three mental health charities.
Laurie Crayston, 33, of Frizington, is planning 24 challenges for Carlisle Eden Mind, Samaritans West Cumbria and Mind Over Mountains.
Laurie’s first challenge will be an attempt at completing the 67km Lantau Trail in Hong Kong, solo and unsupported. He will have to carry all his food and water from start to finish and will climb almost half the height of Everest along the way.
Having set several endurance records over the last few years – including the fastest climb of all England’s mountains in 2023 – Laurie has now set his sights on tackling multiple smaller challenges over a year, inspired in part by fellow West Cumbrian Gary McKee’s 365 marathons.
Laurie said: “Having used Samaritans myself back in 2020 I know how important their service is. I recently learned that the suicide rate in my beloved West Cumbria is the highest in the country and too many people that I know continue to suffer from poor mental health – Carlisle Eden Mind provides guidance and support to those very people. Mind Over Mountains is a charity that offers professional mental health support by combining walking in nature with mindfulness and conversation, with experienced coaches and counsellors – all of which are things I found invaluable during my battles with mental health and I wish I’d known about MoM then.
“Much of the last few years my focus has been on endurance-based challenges – testing my resilience and grit mainly, but my training has always taken on much more of a hybrid structure. This coming year will reflect that.
“I want to challenge not only my endurance but also my strength, my skill, my ability to shape both my body and my mind. I want to challenge myself across multiple disciplines and test my training against a wide variety of metaphorical foes… I’m going to hike, run, lift, swim, kayak and cycle more than ever before’
Laurie added that he owed much of the success in his personal battles with mental health to preparing for and taking part in physical challenges and alongside raising money he aims to show others how they can do this too.
He said: “I want to continue to prove what we are truly capable of as humans, encouraging us all to push our own beliefs and prove our own potential – whatever that looks like individually – and in doing so help others engineer the purpose and fulfilment that has saved me.”
