Ian Goatman from the Isle of Man, together with over 60 colleagues from Lloyds Banking Group, has completed the Fourtitude Challenge, helping raise ?317,097 for Mental Health UK.

Ian was one of over 60 colleagues who crossed the finish line in Birmingham, after tackling a mental agility challenge to test his resolve, 1,344 metres of Ben Nevis, cycling 100 miles completed by a half marathon, all over the course of four days.

The challenge was named ‘Fourtitude’ to reflect that one in four people experience mental health problems, and that the fearless colleagues will be completing the gruelling challenge within four days and starting in four teams – one from each home nation.

This demanding challenge was in aid of Lloyds Banking Group’s two year charity partnership with Mental Health UK, a key part of the Group’s commitment to help Britain prosper. The partnership aims to promote awareness of the link between mental health and money problems, encourage discussion between customers and colleagues and raise at least ?2million per year to enable the creation of a Mental Health and Money Advice Service.

Ian had a particular motivation for completing this challenge as he has a close friend and a relative who have both experienced mental health problems recently and as he has been training for various physical challenges over the past few years, the Fourtitude challenge was a perfect change to take on a new challenge for a fantastic cause.

Ian said: “The Fourtitude Challenge was really tough. The individual elements were challenging enough but doing them one after the other over four days was truly exhausting. We bonded as a team during the challenge and our collective determination helped me through it. I am thrilled we have raised so much for Mental Health UK and I hope this challenge inspires more people to get involved and help raise money for this important cause.”

Fiona Cannon, Group Director, Responsible Business & Inclusion at Lloyds Banking Group said, “This is certainly one of the toughest challenges we have ever set up for our colleagues. We could not be prouder of everyone involved and it is fantastic that we have exceeded the original fundraising target and raised ?317,097 for Mental Health UK, a key part of the Group’s commitment to help Britain prosper. This brings the total fundraising to nearly ?3 million – smashing the ?2million per year target initially set out by the partnership, and will enable the creation of a Mental Health and Money Advice Service”. 

Brian Dow, Managing Director of Mental Health UK, added: “This was an incredibly tough challenge, demonstrating Lloyds Banking Group’s whole-hearted commitment to this partnership. To show my support of their efforts, I ran alongside them in the half marathon part of the challenge. I cannot imagine how they all felt doing that after their hiking and cycling challenge the previous two days and I congratulate them all on managing to complete this and for pushing themselves so hard. We are hugely grateful for the awareness and the significant funding the Fourtitude Challenge has generated.”