Derbyshire couple's 'Everest' trek to help young man 'devastated by Covid-19'

Francesca Gallone, 26, and her partner Dominic Casswell, 28, are to run and walk 141.5 km in seven days to support a young Nepalese man who they met while travelling in Asia.

Sunil Tamang, who acted as a guide for the couple when they were trekking in Nepal, has seen his tourism business collapse due to the restrictions on travel caused by the pandemic.

Without the safety net of a furlough scheme like we have in the UK, Sunil is now jobless and unable to provide for his family – which means he cannot send his children to school.

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Francesca, from Duffield, an expedition programme manager for Outlook Expeditions, said: “The outbreak of Coivd-19 has impacted all of our lives, but while lots of us are struggling with not being able to go to the pub, or sad that our summer holidays are in jeopardy, the consequences for those in other countries are far more devastating.

“Sunil’s hope is that he may be able to take his family out of Kathmandu to the village where he grew up so that he can provide for his family through farming.

“However, the house there is in no fit state to live in – despite being rebuilt after the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal, a more recent landslide has rendered it inhabitable.

“Sunil is out of options. It's reached a point where he believes his family may die from starvation rather than the coronavirus.

“The whole situation has just put everything into perspective for us and we want to do all we can to help from afar. With that, we will be running and walking 141.5 km in seven days - the distance from Lukla to the summit of Everest and back again.”

Francesca says she and Dominic, a senior customer quality engineer at Dellner Ltd, are both fit and healthy but she is not used to running so is currently completing the couch to 5k app.

To help Sunil, visit Francesca and Dominic’s JustGiving page to sponsor them.