The Herald reports

High aims in life for a Glasgow Hawk
KEVIN FERRIE February 01 2008

BUILT FOR SUCCESS: Ricky Munday, far right, has grown accustomed to extreme challenges. Picture: Stewart Attwood
Boredom is rarely cited as the motivation for fine work but it is pretty much what launched Ricky Munday's charitable efforts four years ago.

Perhaps because his concentration was elsewhere at a time when he was part of a Glasgow Hawks team that was in the course of winning three successive Premiership One titles, he had found himself out of work and with too much time on his hands.

"I'd lost my job," he explained. "I had been doing my CA training and failed an exam. The firm's policy was two strikes and you're out. I had to look for another one to take on my training contract and not a lot of firms are willing to take someone on, so I spent four months looking for a job and felt I needed to do something."

If the capacity to take on a challenge is anything to judge someone by then Munday's former employers may want to think again about the rigidity of their policy - because he could hardly have responded to his situation by demanding more of himself.

advertisement"I saw an article in The Herald about a guy doing a jungle marathon, in the Amazon I think, so I went on the website to see what I could do and came across the Marathon des Sables," he said.

"I felt I had the time to organise it and get sponsorship so it was worth taking on."

For those who do not instantly recognise the name, the word marathon is something of an understatement. Billing itself "the toughest footrace on earth"

the event is run in stages across more than 150 miles of Sahara Desert, over six to seven days.

"It was the hardest thing I'll ever do, but completing it proved to me I can take on pretty much anything," said Munday.

Most important of all he raised close to £5000 for the Raising Africa charity, stimulating an appetite for other such projects. That sum has become his base target for annual challenges that have so far seen him take on Mont Blanc in 2005, the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan in 2006, before last year's relative sprint along the West Highland Way. His ultimate aim is an ascent of Everest in 2010, while this year's project will take him to Africa where he will attempt the continent's three highest mountains - Mount Stanley (5109m), Mount Kenya (5199m) and Mount Kilimanjaro (5895m) - in a matter of days.

This time, though, his employer, Bank of Scotland Corporate, is very much onside, having effectively set up the trip by allocating him a secondment to Kenya. That, in turn, depends upon the political situation there and the colleague Munday was scheduled to replace this spring is currently back in the UK, having been recalled, which may affect his plans. There are only two suitable windows for climbing during the year and while he had been on schedule for the July/August one it may be that he has to rethink that and aim for January/February next year. "I'm not getting too depressed about it because I know I'm going out some time and it gives me more time to raise money," he said.

It will go to The Balcraig Foundation, a charity run by Ann Gloag, co-founder of Stagecoach plc, which also supports the Thomas Barnardo's House Orphanage in Nairobi, where Ricky is to be based for his four-month secondment.

It houses 180 orphaned, abandoned and destitute children in nine family units, each with a resident "mother". The home is entirely reliant on donations and has a growing commercial department which runs a number of projects to generate income in order to support the home and reduce dependency.

"By necessity, the children have a number of strong female role models in their lives, including the house mothers, and the majority of volunteers are female. It's important they also have male role models and I hope to inspire the children to set their goals in life high," Munday said.

An additional benefit is helping increase the cultural awareness of youngsters in his own home city since Scott Inglis, the Glasgow Hawks coach, teaches at Clydebank High School, where he has set up a fundraising week for the Balcraig Foundation. That, in turn, is very much in line with the type of backing Munday, who has targeted next season as his last playing rugby, has had up to this point.

"I have received great support from my friends, colleagues and the rugby club, while the HBOS Foundation will also match funds raised to the value of £500," he said. "Even a few pounds can make a huge difference and mean the Balcraig Foundation can continue their invaluable work supporting orphaned children in Africa."




Ricky Munday has set up an online fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/rickyafrica3peaks He is also looking for corporate sponsors and can supply a fundraising dossier on request.

This article was originally posted on 1-Feb-2008, 08:49 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 1-Feb-2008, 08:55.