A WIDNES adrenaline-junkie will climb Italy’s tallest mountain, Gran Paradiso, as part of 10 action packed challenges to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

James Noone, 42, lost his dad Brian to cancer in 2018. After witnessing first-hand the care provided to his dad and family by Macmillan nurses, James decided to give something back to the charity.

“It’s my 10-year anniversary this year so I wanted to do something for Macmillan, who were fantastic with the whole family. They enabled us to keep my dad at home during his final days, which really meant a lot to us, especially my mum.

“When dad died, I went through a real range of emotions. It’s such a rough experience and it left me feeling hollow and upset. But I found that doing these sort of endurance challenges really helped me through a difficult period.

“When I decided I wanted to raise money for Macmillan, I originally wanted to do some long-distance runs with my wife, Aimee, who got into running during lockdown, but it’s really escalated from there.

“I wanted to get a few of my mates involved but, like mates do, we’ve just dared each other and spurred each other on, so the challenges have got a bit madder.”

And that’s an understatement.

James has already completed five challenges – including a whopping 34-mile run, the London City 10k, Manchester Marathon, Wilmslow half marathon and a cycle from Skegness to Liverpool in just one day – but the toughest are yet to come.

The first of his five remaining challenges – which also include an Ironman in Barcelona, an Olympic triathlon in Ullswater, an end to end swim of Coniston in the Lake District and a half-distance triathlon – is a climb up Italy’s tallest mountain, Gran Paradiso, at the end of June.

The climb – around 4,061 metres, just over 13,000 feet - and descent will take James three days to complete.

“I’d not seen what the climb involved until after I’d signed up. Then I saw a video of what I’d agreed to do, and my first thought was – oh no!”

“It’s out of my comfort zone but doing something like this helps you reset your mind and your focus. There’s no better motivation than doing this for my dad, who was my hero.

“I want to raise £10,000 for Macmillan. I saw a stat that £32 pays for palliative care nurse for an hour, which makes a massive difference and has a direct impact on someone with cancer.”

To donate to James’ fundraising, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/10for10JPN