LAUNCESTON Tesco’s store manager, Mike Hart, and produce manager, Ben Walker, recently completed a stage of the company’s Great Tesco Walk.

The Great Tesco Walk sees over 4,000 colleagues from across the country take part in different stages in a relay from Land’s End to John O’Groats,

The event took exactly a month, with the event finishing on Thursday, October 5, and will raise close to £1-million.

The duo walked from their St Austell store to Callington to raise money for Tesco’s chosen charities for the year — the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK.

Mike and Ben were part of a number of other senior members from across the area to walk the 57km, which saw them take in stops at Lostwithiel and Liskeard.

They arrived in Callington at 9.15pm, around 14-and-a-quarter hours after they started.

Mike said the day went well and was delighted to raise £630 from the Launceston store for their efforts.

He said: “It was quite a gentle pace because of the rural areas but overall it was really good and very well organised.

“We were escorted around by four volunteers from a company called Action Challenge who organise these sort of events and they help with the mapping, the route and the pace etc.”

Such a time walking meant that it could have been a drag, however Mike said that it went pretty quickly.

He said: “We made a few friends along the way. Ben and I didn’t know anyone else beforehand but it broke the time being able to talk to other people. It’s better for these sort of things not to know anyone.”

Looking forward, Mike says he’d be more than happy to do it again and thanked everyone for their support.

He said: “I’d definitely like to do it again. I did the Three Peaks Challenge a few years ago, so I’ve done similar things.

However, it was great that we managed to raise £630 from the day and at the store so I’d like to thank everyone who donated.

The people of Launceston are always very generous, so thank you.”

For the next leg, a group of volunteers from the Callington store walked from there to Tavistock.

Callington store manager, Martin Hawkins, one of the walkers, said: “It took us four and a half hours, walking down into and up out of the Tamar Valley and then down again to cross the Tavy, but our customers have been very supportive and it was a great way to demonstrate the benefits of healthy exercise while enjoying the beautiful scenery — even if part of it was in the rain!”