Severely disabled Huddersfield ‘superman’ Stephen Collins broke down in tears of relief after completing a gruelling 24-hour charity trek.

The 65-year-old – who needs a rollator frame to walk – walked round Greenhead Park from 10am on Saturday to 10am on Sunday, clocking up an astonishing 52,634 steps along the way.

It was tough going, especially through the cold and blustery early hours of the morning, but he had terrific support with people taking it in turns to walk with him every step of the way.

His target was to raise £2,000 for Slaithwaite-based charity Ruddi’s Retreat but he’s absolutely smashed it with the total from his JustGiving page and cash donations during the trek now standing at £3,248.

When he reached the end of the marathon a group of well-wishers were waiting for him and, as he crossed the finishing line, Stephen fell into wife Sally’s arms in tears of relief.

“I’m absolutely knackered,” he said. “But just so relieved it’s done. The toughest point was during the early hours of the morning. I stopped briefly to have a sandwich but it just made me feel sick. I think I was just nervous as I wanted to complete what I set out to do so badly.

“But it’s done now and I can relax again. I just want to thank everyone who has supported me, both here in the park but also everyone who has pledged money or made a donation in the park. I can’t thank people enough.”

 

Stephen Collins with wife Sally and daughter Rose

 

Ruddi’s Retreat provides free caravan breaks for families with children battling serious illnesses such as cancer, have life-limiting conditions or have suffered bereavement. Ruddi’s has four caravans on the Primrose Valley Holiday Park near Filey and a fifth near Blackpool.

Ruddi’s Retreat assistant manager Vicki Green, who walked with Stephen for 12 hours, said: “Stephen is absolutely remarkable, but that just doesn’t seem a powerful enough word. He’s unique and his determination is unbelievable. He’s certainly earned every penny of his fundraising total the hard way.”

Vicki walked with Stephen all night and others who also helped him through the night include Vicki’s 17-year-old daughter Emily, Stephen’s daughter Rose, Ruddi’s trustee Ian Gledhill and charity supporters Marcus Green, David Marsden and Craig Douglas. Several of Stephen’s neighbours from Longwood also came to support him during the hours of darkness.

People passing by put so much money into Stephen’s collecting tins they had to be emptied three times.

 

 

Stephen is a familiar sight in Greenhead Park as he does most of his training there and has become something of a cult figure to people taking part in the 5k Parkrun every Saturday morning.

In April he walked 7.5 miles from Slaithwaite to Castle Hill, including scaling the foreboding Lockwood Scar, and did the route in eight hours to raise more than £2,377 for Ruddi’s, smashing his target of £1,500.

Stephen is already planning more extreme fundraising next year. He will be 66 on Monday, April 21, 2025 and to mark it will take on his ultimate challenge, walking 12.5 miles from Slaithwaite to Emley Moor mast which he thinks will take 15 hours.

Stephen, who lives in Longwood, has cerebral palsy and doctors told his parents when he was a baby he would never walk but, continually encouraged and supported by his parents, Stephen certainly proved the medics wrong.

Stephen was well-known as an entrepreneur, running his own successful mobility equipment business, Lazarus Mobility, and was mentored by Dragons Den star Duncan Bannatyne.

To support Stephen please donate HERE.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost writing autobiographies.