Vic's a true marathon man (From Messenger Newspapers)

Former Altrincham resident walks more than 1,000 miles for charity

4:06pm Thursday 19th January 2012 in News By Rick Bowen

A FORMER Altrincham resident has raised nearly £10,000 for charity by walking more than 1,200 miles from his home in the French Pyrenees to his birthplace in Blackpool.

Vic Heaney (pictured) began his mammoth 70 day trek in May 2010 and has raised the money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

“My first wife, Gaile, died of pancreatic cancer which is how I came to know that it is savage, short and brutal and that no progress has been made in finding a cure, in the past 40 years,” he said.

He raised the charity cash through sponsorship and by producing an e-book - Vic’s Big Walk - based on his experiences.

Vic said he spent two years preparing for his charity challenge.

“Because of the training and because I have always been fit - I was a member of Altrincham Athletics Club - I was not even tired when I finished,” he said.

He even enjoyed celebrity support when he met Sir James Anderton, former Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, while he was walking through Dunham Park.

“When I told him I was walking back through my life he quoted the old Goons song, Walking Backwards to Christmas. His parting words were that I should write a book about the walk,” he said.

Vic, whose working life included working for the government’s intelligence gathering centre GCHQ, said he encountered an array of wildlife on the walk, from boar and deer to foxes. in London he also spotted one of comedy’s most colourful characters, Billy Connolly.

* Vic’s Big Walk costs £3.15 and is available from Amazon.co.uk.