Injured walkers raise money for spinal charities in Hull park

The walkers underwent physiotherapy in Hull after suffering spinal injuries

A fundraising race involving people who had to relearn how to walk after spinal injuries has taken place in a Hull park.

Participants in the 5K (3.1 miles) event in the city's East Park included rugby league star Mose Masoe.

He suffered a career ending injuring while playing for Hull Kingston Rovers in 2020 and learnt to walk again after months of physiotherapy.

Organiser Kaytie Houldridge helped the walkers with their rehabilitation.

"For some of them it is probably the longest distance they've done since their injury, she said.

"When walking they're constantly checking their foot positioning so they've really got to think about different things as they walk.

"They've got to kind of take five minutes to think about it and then go 'right I need to do this'. So for them it's a huge achievement, even the ones with sticks."

Mr Masoe, who underwent his recovery under the supervision of Ms Houldridge at Flex Health in Hull, described the walk as "a tough slog" and said it was his farewell to the city before returning to New Zealand next week.

"I started at Flex in a wheel chair and couldn't walk more than 20 minutes and today we are going to try and walk at least a kilometre," he said.

"It will be nice to walk around the park and just say bye to a lot of people who supported me along the way."

Mose Masoe (L) did the walk with Liam Critchett (R), whose charity will receive some of the funds raised

Also joining the walkers was 10-year-old Max Clark who had to have his leg amputated after being hit by a motorcyclist while playing in a Hull park in May 2020.

Ms Houldridge said she hoped the event would raise £1,500 which would be split between the spinal injuries unit at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield and a charity run by one of the participants Liam Critchett from Scarborough.

Mr Critchett, 24, recently learned to walk again after using a wheelchair for 10 years after having spinal cancer as a child.