A VETERAN will walk 150km with four friends in honour of the 10th anniversary of the death of a friend who died in Afghanistan. 

Matty Lewin from Poole will walk 150km across Wales and compete in a wheelbarrow race in honour of his friend, Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas, who died in 2014 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on a specialist military operation. 

Joined by fellow friends, Tristan Parker, Arul Umapathy, Jack Powell and Tom Harrison, the quintet will walk from Machynlleth to Oli's hometown Kington with a wheelbarrow to raise money for SSAFA and United for Sport. 

Matty said: "I knew Oli through the army and Arul knew him through officer training corp and Tristan, Tom, and Jack all knew him from Reading University. 

"He was full of life, we had a lot of drunken nights out but he was also a really switched-on guy. He worked as a parliamentary researcher for the Lib Dems and had aspirations for a political life himself. 

"He did his dissertation around the narcotics trade and then wanted to put that to use when he was out in Afghanistan looking to counter heroin production work."

Kington wheelbarrow race is an annual event on June 8 which is part of the Kington Festival in which competitors in fancy dress race through the town stopping to down a pint at each pub. 

A unique event, Matty said it was something Oli would have loved to have been involved in and was a great way to honour his memory and raise money.

He said: "He would have loved the boozing and the wheelbarrow race at the end, it would have resonated with him to have that sort of challenge that's a bit bizarre.

"SSAFA supported Oli's family and Oli also did a couple of Raleigh Internationals and really enjoyed going and playing cricket out in South America and, unfortunately, Raleigh seems to have become a profit business so we couldn't raise for them. 

"United Through Sport do similar work in alleviating poverty and bringing smiles to kids across the world."

To donate, visit the group's fundraiser.