User:Damieon Hartley-Pickles/sandbox

Damieon Pickles (born 2 December 1970, in Halifax, West Yorkshire) is a former professional rugby league player. Pickles studied at Exley Secondary school in Siddal Halifax where, when 11 years old, he started playing rugby league at Siddal ARLFC. Damieon continued to progress through the Sid-dal ranks before signing for Halifax ARLFC under Roger Millward in 1991 where he spent two years and made his try scoring debut on Sky in a 36-24 defeat against St. Helens before moving to Huddersfield ARLFC under the inspirational guidance of ex-Halifax reserve coach Brendan Finn in 1993 who died soon afterwards. From 1995 onwards Damieon continued to ply his trade on a semi-professional basis with stints at Hunslet, Lancashire Lynx before settling at Bramley ARLFC for a couple of seasons coached by Ray Ashton then Paul Fletcher. It wasn't until 1996 that Damieon returned to his hometown club of the now Halifax Bluesox where John Pendlebury was at the helm. One more season at Bluesox pulled the curtain down on his professional career but ending on a high with top points scorer in the reserve team league. Damieon spent several more years back at amateurs Siddal ARLFC.

Joining the Manchester Police

Damieon opted for a career change in 2002, joining ranks within Greater Manchester Police and fitting a police constable. [2] From the quite start of his police career Damieon was introduced to the police rugby league. From then until the present he has taken on the role of player coach within Greater Manchester Police rugby league which additionally incorporated playing for GB police coached by former Bradford Bulls prop Jon Hamer. This gave Damieon the chance to travel the globe representing the British Police at international level, in New Zealand in 2005, Serbia in 2007, and the Czech Republic in 2008. With 23 GB caps under his belt and at the age of 38 Damieon retired to concentrate on the coaching aspect of rugby league where in 2009 he became assistant coach with the BPRLA British Police Rugby League Association assisting Jon Hamer and Mark Robinson. Damieon has competed in several marathons for charity: London 2007, New York 2008 [3] and Wales 2011.

PC Damieon Hartley-Pickles is once more pulling on his police helmet, lyrca and wheelbarrow to run a half marathon in his back garden in support of Mahdlo Youth Zone and the NHS.

The GMP constable, based in Oldham, has run a series of long distance runs in support of charities, pushing his trusty wheelbarrow all the way – earning him the nickname Barrowthon Man.

He was due to run the Manchester Half Marathon in March but due to the coronavirus outbreak the event was postponed.

Not one to be knocked back, PC Hartley-Pickles is taking matters into his own hands to spread some positivity and raise much-needed funds for the borough’s youth zone and health services.

So, his garden will host his next half marathon on Sunday, April 12 and he has set a target of fundraising £1,000 from the challenge.

PC Hartley-Pickles said: “It’s going to be an interesting challenge. I’ve ran a fair few distance races over the years but this will be the first I’ve done so close to where I actually keep my wheelbarrow!

“After the Manchester Half was postponed, I felt I needed to do something positive to show everyone that amazing things are still happening in Oldham.

“After very little thought, I decided to run a half marathon in my own back garden! 418 times around garden on Easter Sunday.

“Both young people and our front line key workers need support at this difficult time. I have therefore decided to fundraise for both Mahdlo Youth Zone and our NHS.

“The work Mahdlo has been doing to continue to provide youth services to young people over the last month has been fantastic.

“I know the generosity of our local community will shine through when it comes to supporting them and our wonderful NHS.”

Lucy Lees, Deputy Chief Executive at Mahdlo Youth Zone, added: “Damieon has been a longtime supporter of Mahdlo and once again he has gone above and beyond anything we could have expected.

“In these difficult and uncertain times, Mahdlo’s members and Oldham’s young people need support more than ever and we are so grateful Damieon has chosen to raise funds for us alongside the NHS.

“We can’t wait to see him charging around his garden to bring some positivity and light to Oldham!”

You can follow Barrowthon Man’s exploits on @Barrowthonman or @mahdloyz Twitter accounts on the day.

You can donate on his fundraising page online: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Barrowthonman

Mahdlo is a state-of-the-art youth zone on Egerton Street in Oldham for eight to 19-year-olds (up to 25 for young people with a disability).

It is open seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year to offer an exciting range of activities and opportunities that all young people from across Oldham can access for just 50p as a member.

Find out more about Mahdlo on their website: www.mahdloyz.org