A ROCK climber who suffered serious head injuries in a 200ft fall will tackle a gruelling 186-mile run to raise money for charity.

Colin Watts, 41, of Top Lane, Whitley, is running the entire length of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path in west Wales, and aims to complete it in six days between May 27 and June 1. The challenge is in aid of Headway, which provides support and information to brain injury survivors, their families and carers.

Mr Watts had his fall while ice climbing in north Wales in 2003, sustaining serious head injuries and multiple fractures. He said: "I was discharged from hospital after five weeks and I attended the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Disease in Bath as an outpatient for seven months, where there is a specialist brain injury unit."

Since his gradual return to health he has taken part in a number of demanding long-distance runs for Headway, raising £5,000 in support of those with brain injuries.

"I view these runs as steps in my journey of recovery and an opportunity to help others who have suffered a brain injury and who are having to work harder than I have to get back to their normal lives," he said.

The army will be on hand to help Mr Watts on part of his route by escorting him past the tank firing range. "Ideally I would like to follow the coast but the official coast path detours inland to skirt around the tank firing range," he said.

"However, the army has offered to escort me through the range so I can follow the coast!"

When he started running in the summer of 2003 he was doing shorter three to four-mile routes at lunchtime, as running would invigorate him, making him more alert in the afternoons to combat the severe fatigue he felt as a result of the head injury.

  • To support Mr Watts visit www.justgiving.co.uk/colinwatts