DESPITE facing a number of set-backs caused by the Covid-19 crisis Ballingry man Paul Boggie and his battling boxers completed a four day test geared to raising funds to help the homelessness and also the NHS.

Originally Paul, Kirktoun Park, and his former soldier colleague, pro fighter Alfie McArthur, had planned to hold their grand challenge at the Brecon Army Camp in Wales.

However, because of the restrictions the coronavirus situation what could be done at the Army base would have completely limited the activities but they were able to find an alternative venue in Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales.

Malham Tarn is a glacial lake near the village of Malham and the lake is one of only eight upland alkaline lakes in Europe, at an altitude of 377 metres above sea level.

Said Paul: "Alfie had a few late cancellations through illness, a car crash, and other personal circumstances, but came up with two teams of four competitors to take part in the Grand Challenge.

"They were Alfie, Ben Jones, Peter Nurdin, Shawn Grant, Geoff Dixon, Kristaps Zulgi, Dave Dickenson and Paul Rodgers and they found the surroundings inspiring.

"They went out for the first two days ready to take on the challenges that had been organised with great use of the features the countryside provided.

"However, there was a lot of water involved and it led to three of our competitors suffering from the terribly debilitating condition trenchfoot, that results from your feet being wet for too long.

"Each one of them wanted to continue but we had to persuade them that they could seriously damage their feet and as boxers that could have seen them struggle to get back in the ring quickly."

The five remaining competitors managed to complete the challenge of 100 miles being covered and everyone of them had a great time.

Added Paul: "We had originally been intending to stream the event by Youtube but losing Brecon for the Challenge left us unable to achieve that but we have put together some excellent video footage of the whole event and we will be looking to use that to increase the funding we can raixe from this."

Paul's book, Heroin to Hero, about his story of going from drugs to being a Scots Guard, is now available in paperback form as well as kindle and he is pleased with the way sales are moving along.

"We want to raise money to help the homeless and the fighters have all made a huge effort to achieve this and the plan is to get the video available as quickly as possible to help move this along," he concluded.