Amputee army veteran walks 457 laps over two days for every British life lost in Afghanistan
Steve Owen talks about the challenge and why it was important to him.
An amputee army veteran has walked 457 laps of a sports track to commemorate the British lives lost in Afghanistan - including soldiers he served alongside.
Former Royal Welsh soldier Steve Owen, from Cardigan in west Wales, lost his left leg in 2016 due to injuries sustained while on tour in Afghanistan in 2010.
Over the last 20 years of deployment, 457 British service personnel have died during UK military operations in Afghanistan.
Each gruelling lap of the 400-metre running track was dedicated to one of the fallen soldiers.
Steve carried a print out of each person's name which gave him the motivation he needed when the challenge got tough.
"Every lap that we did, we placed their name on the board. I remember at probably about 2:00AM this morning - I was sat there in the chair, feeling sorry for myself, didn't want to get up and do another lap.
"I looked up at the board and just to see all of their names, that motivated me to get up and crack on."
It took 42 hours to complete covering a total distance of around 113 miles or 182km. The former soldier didn't sleep over the two days.
Steve, who served in the army for eight years, decided upon this challenge to tie in with Remembrance Day but also in response to the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He said: “There’s been a lot of talk in the media about Afghanistan recently with many people questioning whether soldiers died for nothing.
"But that’s not the case - we did make a difference. I served in Afghanistan alongside these men and women, and we should remember them. I lost a lot of mates during and after the conflict, so it means a lot to me that this challenge has meaning.”
The 32-year-old also wanted his challenge to help members of the armed forces community.
He is aiming to raise £2,000 to be split equally between bereaved forces children’s charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers and veterans' charity Woody’s Lodge.
Steve said he had chosen these charities due to the "amazing work that they do for our armed forces community."
The former solider explained, "I wanted to make children's lives better from losing a parent. And a lot of them guys that we remembered over the weekend had children."
He added that the challenge was made even tougher as an amputee.
"Any money that is raised will be such a help to the hard work that these charities do."
War widow Nikki Scott founded Scotty's Little Soldiers in 2010 to support children and young people who have experienced the death of a military parent.
Her husband, Corporal Lee Scott, died during a tour in 2009 and she saw the devastating impact it had on their two young children.
Nikki said: “This is such an incredible achievement from Steve - what a challenge.
"My husband died while serving in Afghanistan, so I know the sacrifices our serving men and women made during that period."
Father-of-three Steve added: “A lot of the men and women who sacrificed their lives have children and will not get the opportunity to see them grow up, so for me, raising money to help support those children was a priority.
“I have kids and I know only too well that after serving in Afghanistan they could have been left without a dad."