FORGET Dry or RED January - one Gomersal man has set himself the mammoth challenge of completing one million steps every month for the whole of 2019.

A total of 16 days in and Andy Bean, 44, is already up on his target of completing the allotted steps for January.

To complete his year-long charity challenge, Mr Bean will need to walk or run an average of 32,800 steps a day, the equivalent of five marathons a week.

Once December 31 rolls around, he is set to have reached as far as Buenos Aires - that's 7,058 miles.

Mr Bean, a married father-of-three, told the Telegraph & Argus: "I was talking to a gentleman in November and he'd given up drinking for a year in order to raise some money on behalf of a friend who had liver cancer.

"I didn't think I could give up drink for that long, but I came up with this challenge instead.

"I'm normally quite active anyway - I've run the London Marathon and the Great North Run before - but nothing quite like this."

As the managing director of LMB Mechanical Services in Cleckheaton, Mr Bean said while his job was desk-based, he was getting up earlier than usual every day to walk for up to two hours before starting work.

Then his lunch break was now given over to walking the streets of Cleckheaton, in order to clock up those steps.

He is also planning a long run every Saturday and a variety of other longer challenges throughout the year.

"I'm using a fitness tracker so I know how many steps I've done," he added. "The first week I've got off to a flying start and I'm already 20,000 up on where I need to be for the month.

"This will help if I have a bad day, or have things on."

Determined to complete his challenge and raise £20,000 for his chosen charities Kirkwood Hospice and Leeds General Infirmary's Children's Heart Surgery Fund, Mr Bean added that he had been advised to buy some specialist walking socks, which were proving effective so far.

But he added he had already picked up a bad knee in the first fortnight.

Of the two charities he has chosen, he added: "I chose Kirkwood Hospice as friends as well as staff at work have had family cared for there.

"And one of the younger lads at work, Jordan McConway, whose 22 now, had open heart surgery at LGI as a baby - that's why I picked the Children's Heart Surgery Fund.

"I hope to raise £10,000 for each charity by the end of the challenge - I'm on around £1,200 each so far."

"I'm really determined, he added, "But I'm already looking forward to the end of winter."

To support Mr Bean's challenge through his Just Giving pages, click here for the Children's Heart Surgery Fund and here for Kirkwood Hospice.