26 January 2024 – A charity race up Snowdon planned by two friends in powered wheelchairs, has hit a huge milestone in its quest to raise £100K for SMA UK. 30-year-old Josh Wintersgill and 19-year-old Maxwell McKnight who both have Spinal Muscular Atrophy, will race one another to the top of the mountain as part of the #KnowNoBounds campaign on Saturday 15 June. Since its launch on 17 January, it has raised over £27K within one week. £25K of which was donated by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.   

The mission of #KnowNoBounds is to raise awareness of the need to make the outdoors more accessible for people with disabilities and to raise enough money to buy new powered wheelchairs for people with SMA to safely explore the outdoors, with a single wheelchair alone costing £25,000 to buy. 

Joshua Wintersgill, disability entrepreneur and campaigner leading the event said: “My good friend and I have set ourselves this mission, to raise £100K and much needed awareness of the challenges people with disabilities can face. Having spent most of our lives using powered wheelchairs, we are extremely aware of the freedom specific powered chairs can provide.  

View #KnowNoBounds video – youtu.be

“The support we have received so far has been humbling and motivates us even more to meet this big challenge. We are incredibly grateful for every donation, including the £25,000 kindly given to us by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.” 

Founder of the easy family of brands and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said: “The pace of technological support for disability in recent years has been truly staggering – however that comes at a price. My Foundation is proud to help Josh and Max in their bid to get the publicity that can only help in making the very best of disability support available to all that need it.”

For many years, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation has supported a diverse range of charitable activities by offering financial awards to help entrepreneurs in the UK and abroad, including the launch of the Young Entrepreneur Awards. In 2018, Joshua Wintersgill received a UK Disability Entrepreneur Award, which enabled him to launch his business Able Move Ltd, which designs and manufactures equipment for people with disabilities and the foundation has been extremely important in enabling Josh to fulfil his ambition to running a successful business. 

The race will take place on the Llanberis Path, involving two teams of 10-15 people who will carry kit including 14KG per paramedic bag and 46KG of batteries for each mobility chair. Between them, Josh and Maxwell will climb 14.5km in total with an ascent of 1085m.  

Funding aims: 

  • £25,000: Could purchase a new all-terrain X8 wheelchair 
  • £50,000: Could purchase two all-terrain X8 wheelchairs 
  • £75,000: Could purchase two all-terrain X8 wheelchairs and help fund an activity weekend for adults and children living with SMA 
  • £100,000: Could purchase two all-terrain X8 wheelchairs and help fund two activity weekends for adults and children living with SMA

The campaign is also supported by SMA UK, Lifestyle and Mobility, Sunrise Medical and JOST Explore. To view #KnowNoBounds Just Giving page, please visit here: Know No Bounds Just Giving