Monday, 11 May 2009 WorkingtonTown skipper Andrew Beattie is used to exerting himself physically but this time he is going outside his comfort zone
to help a charity close to his heart. The 28-year-old Aussie has signed up to tackle the Three Peaks Challenge in memory of his dad Dennis, who died of motor neurone disease, aged 61. Andrew, who is now back at Derwent Park after a stint with promotion-winning Barrow Raiders, said the gruelling trek will be the “craziest” thing he has ever done. To succeed he must scale Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Mount Snowdon in Wales, within three days. He hopes to raise thousands of pounds for the Motor Neurone Association and has also arranged a charity night in Whitehaven with a host of signed rugby league memorabilia to be auctioned. All proceeds will go to help find a cure for a condition that claims so many lives: “Dad was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in October 2007. Diana and I got married in the November, and we went back to Brisbane to see him just after the wedding.
“Dad was a proud man, a very good sportsman in his younger days, and a rugby league fan. He worked 12 hours a day as a bricklayer and, within two months of been diagnosed, he died. I’m just glad we got back to see him. Dad said it was like torture and he wouldn’t wish it on anybody. It’s a muscle-wasting disease – in the end he couldn’t hold his head up of talk.”