Leeds grandfather's 10km challenge after heart attack recovery

Just two weeks after completing a 100-mile cycle ride, the veteran Pudsey Pacer, now 68, went into cardiac arrest in September 2016 while on a Bramley parkrun with his grandson Ewan, who was then aged seven.

Following triple bypass surgery, his bed had to be moved downstairs in his home because he could “barely move”, but he now has set himself the 10k challenge to raise money for the British Heart Foundation – and will do it with one side of his bushy beard chopped off.

Speaking about his “long road to recovery”, Mr Wood said: “If I had a shower, I had to sit down.

“I couldn’t get upstairs. We had to get my bed downstairs. It took a long time.”

The retired builder, who has in the past run marathons, will race the Bradford 10k on Sunday, March 18. He has been training back at the 5km Bramley parkrun events.

“They’re very supportive at Bramley parkrun,” he said.

“Slowly but surely, I started after three months. I did a parkrun, but I could only walk it. Now I can run a parkrun without walking.”

After Mr Wood’s heart attack, his daughter Stacey Kite contacted the YEP to raise awareness about the importance of defibrillators because she believed that one saved his life.

Mr Wood, a former Pacers chairman who lives with his wife Carol on Victoria Rise, will have half his beard shaved off in front of the Bramley war memorial at 8.45am prior to the parkrun on the day before his 10km.

He wished to thank co-organiser Jean Hollings for her help with this.

To help Mr Wood raise £500 for the BHF, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/arthurshalfabeard