HAVING convinced 29 of her colleagues to walk 52 miles in the countryside through the night, all Sarah Clare has to do now is make sure they do it.

The team, based at Unipart in Cowley, are training hard for the RidgeWalk – an annual sponsored walk along the Ridgeway through Oxfordshire and Wiltshire on June 20 and 21.

The trek is completed each year in aid of deafblind charity Sense, which supports people who lose their sight and hearing to live independently.

Walkers can chose between 52-mile route, which takes 24 hours, a 26-mile version or the 13-mile “family-friendly” route, depending on how quickly they get exhausted.

Ms Clare, 28, group financial planner at Unipart, said: “The RidgeWalk is unique in that the challenge itself will be gruelling, exhausting and ever-enduring, but the fact there are three distances means anybody can get involved.

“At Unipart, we’re always on the lookout for activities that bring our employees together, offer a unique experience and give back to the community, so the RidgeWalk was the perfect choice for us.

“All participants will be pushed to their absolute limits personally, but, with the support of their teams, will accomplish achievements that they can truly be proud of whilst raising both awareness and funds for a superb charity that helps people who live with difficulties that most of us can’t even comprehend.”

Ms Clare, of Abingdon, scoured the national organisation, headquartered at Cowley, to find colleagues from Oxfordshire and beyond to join the team.

She said “numerous bake sales” were planned to start raising the £6,000 the team hoped to collect for Sense, and the team still had plenty of ideas up their sleeves.

The team can train at lunchtime at Unipart’s on-site health and fitness club Lean Machine, and at weekends she said it was a case of “going out on lots of long walks and pushing the distance a bit further each time”.

She added: “The hardest part is going to be walking through the night with no sleep.

“Since I’m the one that has convinced my colleagues to take part, there’s no way that I can let them down. It’s just a case of reaching the finish line.”

You can sponsor Team Unipart at virginmoneygiving.com/team/Unipart

Find out more about RidgeWalk at sense.org.uk/ridgewalk or call 03003 309257.