A PROLIFIC fundraiser scared of spiders, piranhas, jaguars and almost every jungle animal imaginable will run 150 miles through the Amazon rainforest.
Father-of-one Kenny Walker, of Waterhouse Street, Chelmsford, is gradually preparing to run the seven-day Jungle Marathon, billed as the toughest endurance race in the world by American TV network CNN.
"It's going to be the hardest, most painful and scariest moment of my life but it's for a good reason and I'm sure I will enjoy parts of it – I hope," said the 30-year-old, who aims to raise £5,000 for Cancer Research.
Daring participants must run through rivers and mud, carrying hammocks, clothing and food, for as long as 61 miles at a time night and day. "You could write a paper with all the things I'm scared of," said arachnophobe Kenny.
The finance planning and analysis manager began his love-hate relationship with running after his cousin Hayley Birch was diagnosed with cancer in 2008.
He has since helped raise nearly £40,000 by running about 30 races, including the 100-mile North Downs Way challenge, mud runs, Tough Mudders and attempting to run 128 miles from Birmingham to London – only for his legs to crumble in Watford.
He ran the longest distance while singing karaoke – a feat "too specific" for Guinness to recognise – by completing 13.1 miles on a treadmill for the Bobby Moore Foundation with wife Dionne outside Barclays bank in Chelmsford High Street in 2012.
So amazed was the widow of the international football legend, Stephanie Moore, that the couple were invited to the charity's quiz night, auction and dinner gala.
It was there, in November last year, that Kenny unwittingly sealed his fate by bidding £600 for a place on the Jungle Marathon. He lost by £50.
"But I got a phone call from the Bobby Moore Foundation telling me that the other guy was drunk and showing off and doesn't want to do it," said Kenny.
"I said wow, OK, so I checked with the missus and she said it was OK."
The Hemel Hempstead-born challenger did not attempt the task, which ordinarily costs £1,000, this year after his daughter Elizabeth was born in May.
Next year's event will take place on October 10 near Manaus, Brazil.
In preparation, Kenny will run on a treadmill in a simulated heat tank which can be cranked up to 40C and up to 99 per cent humidity. He will also undergo three days of survival training.
"I'm a little bit scared," said Kenny, who is also frightened of getting lost in the jungle during darkness. It's going to be an enormous challenge.
"I've run a 100-mile race before, and the attempt from Birmingham to London last year, and I'm doing the Grand Union Canal run from Birmingham to London as part of my training, but this is the next level.
"I like a challenge, but this is probably the only one that I'm scared of.
"But my wife summed it up perfectly. She said if I don't take the opportunity to do it when it won't cost as much, I'm going to forever be thinking about the time I didn't go to the Amazon."
Kenny will run it for a cause close to his heart, for not only did his cousin die from an aggressive skin cancer in 2010, his grandfather and his wife's two grandfathers also died from it.
To sponsor Kenny, visit www.Just Giving.com/amazonultra
