Power worker takes part in the charity race

A former soldier turned power worker is going back to his roots and will be taking part in the ultimate endurance race for charity.

A former soldier turned power worker is going back to his roots and will be taking part in the ultimate endurance race for charity.

Mark Noble, from Cullingham Road, Ipswich is gearing up to take part in the Parachute Regiment’s ten-mile ‘Tactical Advance to Battle’ course at the home of 16 Air Assault Brigade in Colchester on November 15.

Billed as the ultimate ten-mile endurance race and organised by Pegasus Company, competitors run the course complete with a 35lb or 15.8kg pack on their backs (excluding food and water) and wearing military boots and trousers.

Mark, 43, works for UK Power Networks in Ipswich and is responsible for sending staff and materials to various repairs on the electricity network.

Formerly in the Royal Artillery, he left the army as a medic in 1993 after tours of duty in Northern Ireland and the first Gulf War, and six months in Bosnia in 1996.

No stranger to a challenge, Mark has run the London Marathon twice, cycled around the whole of the Isle of Wight raising £900 for Pilgrims Bandits, a charity set up by Special Forces veterans to help inspire and help wounded soldiers to live life to the full.

The father-of-three, who will be doing this year’s challenge to raise money for Cancer Research UK, has been training for months at Alton Water in Suffolk to try to prepare him for the task ahead.

He said: “The course itself has a bit of everything: there will be swamps, a water crossing and a nasty little hill to contend with and the fact that it’s cross country and not on a road won’t help.

“Due to my pre-event training, past injuries are starting to raise their ugly heads including where I fractured my spine back in my military days, but I will not let a little bit of pain stop me.

“You have three hours to do the course. If you don’t do it in that time, you get put in the back of the van, driven to the finish line, and there you have to face the ultimate shame.”

Mark has already raised more than his original target of £500 and hopes to exceed £600 by the time he takes on the course. Donations can be made at his justgiving site https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Noble2015/.

Are you interested in a career with UK power networks? Please click here!

VERCIDA works with over one hundred clients who are committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you are an employer and interested in working with VERCIDA to promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives and attract the best candidates, please call 02037405973 or email [email protected] for more information.

We are also officially recommended by Disability Confident as a step on achieving Employer status, please click here for more information.