Dunmow father-of-two beats tough course for his family

Mark being pushed through his paces (Image: Archant)

Mark Ghosh joined hundreds of other entrants taking on a 12-mile Tough Mudder event in the Midlands.

The 25-year-old put himself through the pain, which included jumping off a 12ft wall into ice cold water and dragging his way through mud, to raise money for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) UK charity.

His wife, Natalina and two children Annabella, five, and Toby, two, suffer from CMT – a rare condition which affects the nerves in your legs and arms, and can lead to muscle wasting – and he wanted to do what he could to improve their lives.

Mark managed to complete the event, designed to test the participant’s strength both mentally and physically, in three hours and 20 minutes.

He told the Broadcast: “It was one thousand times more awesome than I expected. It is so enjoyable because of the challenge and the adrenalin.

“It was harder than I thought it would be and around the 11th mile I was thinking ‘Am I going to do this?’ but you can see the finishing line and that keeps you going.”

Mark added: “Getting over the finishing line was so overwhelming. Everyone is clapping and cheering – it is really something to be proud of.”

The Dunmow man was delighted to raise £350 for CMT – beating his £300 target – and is already planning to do his next Tough Mudder course. He hopes by raising awareness of CMT, the lives of his family will improve.

His daughter Annabella suffers from many symptoms, including frequent falling, fatigue and poor blood circulation, but people are often unaware there is anything wrong.

Mark added: “The biggest problem we’ve had is many people have the opinion ‘She looks okay, therefore she must be okay’.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, which is why raising awareness is so important to me.”