Bristol fitness group to do charity walk carrying white goods

A female fitness group is taking on a charity challenge to raise money for Bristol’s homeless.

Commando Bootcamp, based in Yate, have created the “share the load” challenge in which they will walk a half-marathon while carrying white goods on 22 September.

Walking from Yate to Bristol, the women will be raising money for The Blonde Street Angel Team who are dedicated to helping the city’s rough sleepers.

Co-founder of Commando Bootcamp, Debbs Ralph, said: “Everything we carry can be used by the charity – we want to carry all the things we can take for granted.”

She added: “We’ve done lots of charity fundraisers like this and once you start you can’t stop.”

The 25-strong team will be in split into groups of three or four, rotating between carrying large and small goods and a bag of food supplies to give to the Blonde Street Angel Team to distribute.

The Commando Bootcamp has raised more than £22,000 for charities through various challenges, such as completing a half marathon carrying a log, running a 48hr relay and doing a Christmas “sleigh-run” around Yate.

Training has already begun for the team which has been spotted by the local community.

“We’ve been featured in the Yate Facebook group which was pretty cool, with a picture of us carrying fridges,” Mrs Ralph said.

Commando Bootcamp was started five years by Mrs Ralph and her husband, Lee Ralph.

“It started with a silly conversation with my husband in the garden,” she said.

“He’s always done military based training and I wanted to do something similar.

“We started with six women on a Monday night in Yate and now we’ve got up to 26 people attending.”

The charity walk will take place on 22 September, starting from Yate Park and Ride at 07:00 BST and finishing at Broadmead in Bristol.