Ollie Young - Walk With Ollie

Walk With Ollie 2024

Ollie Young Foundation (OYF) is a UK charity funding research into brain tumours in children.
Brave little Ollie lost his fight the day before his sixth birthday to an incurable brain tumour only 12 weeks after showing first symptoms.
The ultimate aim of OYF is to find a cure or prevention from this awful disease that affects many children

Ollie Young Foundation (OYF) is a UK charity funding research into brain tumours in children.
Brave little Ollie lost his fight the day before his sixth birthday to an incurable brain tumour only 12 weeks after showing first symptoms.
The ultimate aim of OYF is to find a cure or prevention from this awful disease that affects many children and families. With over 120 different types of brain tumour, it is the biggest cancer killer of children. By directly funding research into brain tumours they are able to pursue this aim.
A proportion of funds raised will be directed towards two organisations very close to the foundation namely Helen & Douglas House and Young Lives vs Cancer.

The Challenge?

Walk 18 and a half marathons (777km!) Downstream and Upstream on the magnificent Thames Path
Starting on July 9th and finishing on July 27th.

Who?

Dale Thomas & Alan Francis, both 65 years young this year.

Why?

To raise money for the Ollie Young Foundation
Welcome to our website to support Dale & Alan's charity walk this July.

The Challenge?

Walk 18 and a half marathons (777km!) Downstream and Upstream on the magnificent Thames Path
Starting on July 9th and finishing on July 27th.

Who?

Dale Thomas & Alan Francis, both 65 years young this year.

Why?

To raise money for the Ollie Young Foundation
Welcome to our website to support Dale & Alan's charity walk this July.
Ollie would be 18 and a half years old in August of 2024. So they will walk 18 and a half marathons to remember Ollie.
The Ollie Young Foundation is a fantastic charity which operates without the overheads, paid fundraisers and CEOs of larger charities and raises money to fund paediatric brain tumour research. Dale and Alans adventure is entirely self-funded. All money donated goes directly to eradicating this awful disease.

Walk With Ollie

Our challenge this year is hopefully something different.
Of course many of us have our own particular cause that we support for personal reasons that matter deeply for us. So below you will find details of each day of the challenge indicating what our direction of travel will be on the Thames Path for each day of the ninet

Walk With Ollie

Our challenge this year is hopefully something different.
Of course many of us have our own particular cause that we support for personal reasons that matter deeply for us. So below you will find details of each day of the challenge indicating what our direction of travel will be on the Thames Path for each day of the nineteen in total.
We would love it if you wanted to join Dale & Alan along the way to raise funds for your own special cause. No need to pre-arrange anything. Just check the schedule below and let's do it! If you do want to pre-check details then feel free to contact Dale at dale@wwo24.org

Meet the team

Dale Thomas-Pensioner on Foot: 64

Dale retired recently from a career in the Software industry. His passion for ultra marathons (He has run the Marathon Des Sables and other crazy endurance events) was cut short when he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in early 2020. After completing his treatment, in 2021 he com

Meet the team

Dale Thomas-Pensioner on Foot: 64

Dale retired recently from a career in the Software industry. His passion for ultra marathons (He has run the Marathon Des Sables and other crazy endurance events) was cut short when he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in early 2020. After completing his treatment, in 2021 he completed a John O'Groats to Lands End cycle and in 2022 The 3 peaks challenge and a walk home from Snowdon!. In 2023, he walked from Inverness to Wokingham using the canal network to raise funds for the Ollie Young Foundation.

Alan Francis (Big Al)-Logistics: 64

Retired from The Hot Bread Shop in Newport and not so recently from South Wales Fire and Rescue. Alan has enjoyed social cycling for a few years with a local club and in 2021, with Dale, completed the John O'Groats to Lands End cycle ride. He was the support supremo for Dale in 2022 and in 2023, aside from his logistic planning expertise, he walked a significant part of the route with Dale. It should be noted that in 2024 he is doing his own Newport/Tenby 123 mile charity cycle ride for Prostate Cancer Research as well. Bravo Big Al!

Richard Jones-Fitness:40

Rich has been training Dale for more than 10 years for various challenges during this time. And he has the slogan...'Once a Jungle Brother, always a Jungle Brother!' Despite being led by Dale into one of the most hostile and challenging environments in the world...the Amazon Rainforest in the BTU 2016 Jungle Ultra-Marathon...where things have the ability to kill you, Rich says his biggest achievement to date has been surviving Dale's jokes over the 5 days!