COLIN Hawes is today spending a gruelling way to celebrate his 40th birthday.Mr Hawes will be cycling, swimming, walking and running to raise more than £1,000 for charity.

COLIN Hawes is today spending a gruelling way to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Mr Hawes will be cycling, swimming, walking and running to raise more than £1,000 for charity.

Overall he will have travelled around 40 miles – one for every year of his life.

At 10.30am he was due to set off on a 25-mile bike ride from Cavendish Road, Stowmarket, where his parents live, to Deben Pool in Woodbridge.

At 1pm he would then start swimming 40 lengths of the pool before walking for five miles around Woodbridge and then running nine and a half miles back to his home in Page Gardens, Kesgrave. He was hoping to complete his journey by 5.30pm.

As well as doing something different for his birthday, he will also be raising at least £1,100 for national charity When You Wish Upon A Star.

The charity fulfils the wishes of children with life threatening and terminal illnesses and these could range from meeting England striker Michael Owen or travelling to Lapland to visit Father Christmas.

Mr Hawes, who is 40 on Tuesday , said: "It was my idea to mark my 40th birthday with some sort of birthday challenge. I have done a fair bit of training and I will definitely complete it as long as I do not injure myself.

"Having decided to do something like this I thought I would raise a few pounds for charity at the same time.

"My friends think I am a bit crazy. It is not the normal thing that people do when they turn 40 and most people are taken aback."

His wife, Julie, said: "He wanted to do something to mark his 40th birthday and came up with this idea of doing 40 miles for his 40 years.

"We have got two children and you do not realise how lucky you are so we thought it would be a nice charity to send money to.

"I have all the faith in him and I know he will do it."

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