A former Wilsden man is getting tough to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his sister’s death.

Peter Crolla will undertake the Tough Mudder challenge to raise money for the Martin House Hospice.

Peter’s sister Heather died in the hospice at the age of 15 after bravely fighting serious illness all her life.

Peter’s efforts to honour Heather will see him do a 10 mile obstacle course billed as “probably the toughest event on the planet”.

He said: “This is by no means going to be easy. It was something I was interested in, and it’s 20 years this week since my sister died.”

Peter has lived in the Midlands for several years, and will take part in the Tough Mudder Midlands on July 13 in dense woodland near Kettering.

Peter, whose parents Diane and Peter still live in Wilsden, was three years younger than his sister, who was born with Downs Syndrome and with a massive hole in her heart.

Doctors predicted that Heather would not reach her third birthday, but she lived a full life as a child and young teenager with regular with horse riding, gymnastics, ballet, Brownies and Guides, Heather, who attended Braithwaite School, eventually died when Peter was 12, and her service of thanksgiving at St Matthews Church, Wilsden, was attended by more than 200 people.

Peter grew up mad on motor racing, and following a motorsports engineering degree, he landed the dream job of team manager for the Honda Yuasa Racing team, which competes in the British Touring Championship.

He said: ““This is my first Tough Mudder but I am quite active. I do a lot of mountain biking and motocross.

“I’m spending most nights in the gym, along with lots of running and mountain biking.

“I have a target £1,000 and I’m not far from reaching that.”

The Tough Mudder is an obstacle course designed to test all-round strength, stamina, teamwork and mental grit.

Organisers hope the Tough Mudder – which already has events in Europe, the USA and Australia – will grow into a global community living by the values of courage, personal accomplishment, teamwork and fun.

Anyone wishing to support Peter can sponsor him through the webpage justgiving.com/petercrollatoughmudder.