Wetherby Racecourse to welcome 3,000-mile charity walk dad

Wetherby Racecourse is on track to welcome a remarkable father of four who is walking 3,000 miles around the UK.

Richard Farquhar will trek 21 miles from Ripon to Wetherby on Saturday in time for the start of the race meeting during his latest leg in his bid to raise £1.4million for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Racing Welfare.

His Walking The Courses campaign, which started in March 2015, has grown to be racing’s biggest ever charity campaign.

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Wetherby’s Chief Executive, Jonjo Sanderson, said: “We are delighted to be able to host the next leg of Richard’s marathon quest of Walking all of Britain’s Racecourses.

“After some particularly poor weather over Christmas and the New Year, we hope that Richard and his enthusiastic team of followers brighten up our 188BET Christmas Jumper Saturday and we very much look forward to welcoming them to Wetherby Racecourse.”

Richard’s mission is to connect all 60 of Britain’s racecourses on foot after losing his father in 2012 to pancreatic cancer.

With father and son being lifelong racing fans, Farquhar decided he wanted to involve all of the nation’s racecourses in his charitable initiative.

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Racing Welfare takes care of the stable, stud and support staff of British Horse Racing, ensuring the wellbeing of the sport’s unsung heroes.

To mark the end of the Ripon to Wetherby Racecourse leg of his journey, Richard will be walking around the Wetherby course itself at 11.30am, before racing starts.

This lap of the track is a customary feature of each of Richard’s racecourse arrivals. He hopes to be joined by various familiar faces from the racing world and supporters of the campaign.

Racegoers are also invited to partake in the lap of the track and should get in contact via the website www.walkingthecourses.com if they wish to do so.

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Richard will also be interviewed during the day and racegoers will be able to hear this and also donate to his cause towards the end of racing, when he and his team will be shaking collection buckets on the exit.

The total raised currently sits around £310,000 and Richard is now nearly three-quarters of the way through his charity pilgrimage, having covered around 2,210 miles and 49 of the country’s 60 racecourse.