This coming weekend, August 27th, Buffaloes Prop and Try Scoring Machine, along with 24 of his family and friends will be scaling Ben Nevis, to raise funds for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.
Richard and his dad Eric had already scaled Scafell Pike and Snowdon and planned to tackle Ben Nevis last year.
But, sadly, Eric was diagnosed with kidney cancer and after a short battle, he died on December 29.
Now, however, Richard is planning to finally ascend Ben Nevis in Eric’s memory.
And he won’t be alone because 25 of Eric’s family and friends have pledged to join him.
The team will be raising money for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre at Jimmy’s, where Eric was treated.
College lecturer and Buffaloes Prop, Richard, 33, from Rothwell, said: “Over the last few years we did Scafell Pike and Snowdon and we were going to do Ben Nevis.
“But then he was diagnosed with cancer in April last year. We had hoped to still do it but we put it off in the hope he would feel better later in the year or even this summer.
“But the cancer spread quickly and he died just after Christmas, far sooner than any of us expected.
“He would have been 60 in August, so to remember him I decided I would do Ben Nevis.
“It started with just a few of us but then the whole family wanted to get involved, from aunties and uncles to my parents-in-law and some of dad’s old workmates.
“Most of the team are far from fit and able but will fight the pain in dad’s memory.
“He will be with us in spirit, probably complaining at me for not going quick enough.”
Together, the team, who all hail from south and east Leeds, aim to raise more than £1,500 for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre at the new Bexley Wing.
The family has already donated £1,200 raised at Eric’s funeral to the cause.
As well as Richard, Eric, from Swillington, leaves a wife, Eileen, and daughter Jayne, who will also be climbing Ben Nevis.
He worked for most of his life as a service engineer at Craven Fawcett, first in Leeds and then Wakefield.
The family challenge takes place on August 27.
* To sponsor them visit: www.justgiving.com/Richard-Leese