South Yorkshire policeman to be joined by Sheffield colleagues in three peaks challenge in honour of mum

Response Sergeant Josh Hunter, aged 33, will be joined by four colleagues from South Yorkshire Police as they take on the Yorkshire challenge in memory of his mum Julie Hunter who died of cancer in 2021.

On September 2, the group will be attempting to finish the gruelling course in 14 hours or under - while wearing 20kg of riot gear.

Josh, a dad of three, said: “I’m looking forward to it, but I am nervous. It’s going to be really hard carrying the extra kit. The people I have spoken to that have done it normally, like in T-shirts and shorts, have found it really hard, which makes me a bit apprehensive.”

The team has set out to raise £1,000 for AMMF, a charity dedicated solely to cholangiocarcinoma, and at the time of writing has already raised over £1,600 on JustGiving.

Mum Julie died age 62 on September 1 in 2021 just nine months after being diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer.

According to AMMF, it is difficult to diagnose accurately and early, so by the time of diagnosis it is often too advanced for surgery – which is currently the only potential cure.

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Josh’s family has already raised around £10,000 for the charity through challenges including swimming across Lake Windermere and cycling from Land’s End to John o’Groats.

Josh, from Harthill, said: “I thought I wanted to do something that’s challenging, but compared to what [my dad and brother] have done, I thought the three peaks alone wasn’t enough.

“We're all relatively fit. I play football twice a week myself. But in terms of training together, we haven't done any.”

He will be joined by his colleagues Adam Bayliss, Tom Bringhurst, Andrew Sinclair, Bryan McCoy, who all started their job in the force together seven years ago.

They will be kitted out in the official public order kit, consisting of a flame-proof boiler suit, a NATO helmet, full body pads, and a stab vest.

He added: “As soon as you put the kit on, you're sweating instantly. When we do the training in it, you can be doing training in January and you're dripping in sweat, that’s why we didn't want to do it in the summer. And I wanted to try and keep it close to September 1.

“As long as it's not 20 degrees and we'll be happy.”

To donate to Josh’s fundraiser, you can visit his JustGiving site by clicking here.