Ultra tough Blind Dave ready for gruelling marathon challenge
"I'm running into the unknown again but I can't wait."
Charity champion 'Blind Dave' Heeley doesn't know how to put his feet up.
The Baggies fanatic is preparing to fly 8,800 miles out to South Africa for his latest charity challenge on Sunday.
Fresh from running the London Marathon and cycling in the Birmingham Velo recently, Dave is tackling the world's largest and oldest ultramarathon race.
The Comrades Marathon tests endurance athletes to the limit on a course stretching over 55 miles which can take up to 12 hours to complete.
But the 61-year-old from West Bromwich hopes the challenge will spur him on to even more fundraising heights.
"I'm excited as it's a race I wanted to do for 10 years or more. It's watched on by wall-to-wall spectators and more than 20,000 people take part. That's brilliant," said Dave as he made his final preparations before jetting out to Durban on Friday.
He will be accompanied by guide runners Tony Ellis and Rosemary Rhodes for the race and the group face a 5.30am start.
The course takes runners from City Hall in Durban, finishing at the Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg.
"I've been out for a run three or four times a week recently to train. I do get through three or four pairs of trainers a year. That must be more than 100 since I first started all this," joked Dave.
"For the race itself you just have to keep going. There's stops where you can buy food and we might have bit with us too.
"It is the crowds that help get you through."
Dave has already helped raise around £30,000 this year alone through a host of challenges including a 165-mile bike ride from Preston North End's Deepdale ground back to The Hawthorns.
He is best known for becoming the first blind runner to complete seven marathons, in seven continents, in seven days, in 2008.
And that challenge, and how he came to terms with being diagnosed with de-generative sight condition retinitas pigmentosa, has been made into a biopic.
The film, called 7 Days: The story of 'Blind Dave' Heeley, is being shown on the big screens at The Hawthorns on June 12.
"You can forget Hollywood or Leicester Square, where else better to have the film shown than The Hawthorns," he said.
"I'm so grateful to people after all these years who continue to support me and give."
Doors will open to the ground at 6pm with the 45-minute film beginning at 7pm.
Those in attendance will watch Dave’s story be told on the pitchside screens before a live Q&A with the fundraising extraordinaire.
Baggies in attendance will also be in with a chance of winning two Albion season tickets for the 2019/20 campaign.
Adult tickets cost £5 and child tickets £2 with all proceeds going to The Albion Foundation.
