By Saul Cooke-Black

A DETERMINED teenager from Stonehouse has completed the challenge of a lifetime and smashed his fundraising target of £10,000 to help protect endangered mountain gorillas.

Kyran Young, 19, a former pupil at Wycliffe College, walked 2,663 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the US-Mexican border to Canada, experiencing temperatures from below freezing to heat of 48 degrees Centigrade.

“It all started when I read about ‘the Elephant Graveyard’ in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe,” said Kyran, who hopes to study zoology at university.

“More than 300 elephants had been slaughtered by poachers using cyanide poisoning.

“That article still hangs on my fridge and it reminds me every day that there is a war going on.”

Shortly after reading about the elephant massacre, Kyran met Ian Redmond, chairman of The Gorilla Organisation, a charity which helps protect the last 880 mountain gorillas on the planet.

And so Kyran decided to take on the four month trek, which included going through the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains, in aid of the charity.

Starting the trek in May, he was joined by his brother for 1,600 miles.

“Only once did stopping stopping become a practicality in my mind,” he said.

“I had badly bruised my feet and thought I had fractured them.

“At the end of these days I could hardly stand.

“I had to finish this walk though, I had planned it for a year.

“I feel very lucky to be able to do what I have.”

After leaving college, Kyran worked as a gardener for six months to fund the trip and then prepared for the trek by walking 500 miles through the Pyrenees.

He was sponsored by Attwools Camping and Ski Shop, The Fifth Dimension gym, Wycliffe College and Steppes Travel.

Just over £10,600 has been raised.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/gorillawalker.