A MILITARY veteran who suffered serious injuries to his arms and upper body after being shot multiple times in action is gearing up to put his strength and will to the test with a kayaking challenge.

Ben Gallagher from Herefordshire, who later suffered surgical injuries to both legs after undergoing extensive operations, is one of five injured ex-servicemen with life changing injuries who will be kayaking from Land’s End to John O’Groats in June.

The team are aiming to raise £100,000 for the Armed Forces Para-Snowsport team, a charity which supported them through their physical and emotional recoveries and allowed them all to meet.

Expedition leader Darren Edwards, from Shropshire, said: “We want to raise as much money as possible to enable other veterans to benefit from the incredible support we have all received from the charity, which has certainly helped us with our recovery process.

“Training has been a struggle given covid regulations, and we haven’t been able to train together as often as we’d like. But we are all very solutions-focused, so we are thinking about how we can overcome the training challenges and how much we can get done over the next couple of months.”

The other veterans joining Ben are Carl Simmons from Worcestershire, Luke Wigman from Nottinghamshire and Jonny Huntington from Devon.

If the team meet their goal, they will be the first adaptive team to complete the 1,400km journey.

Supporters will be able to follow the team’s progress throughout training and the challenge itself via a series of videos produced by Wanderlust Action Films.

To donate visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kayak4heroes

To sponsor, visit: www.kayak4heroes.co.uk/sponsorship