Waddington man completes whacky 17-marathon charity challenge

A man has completed a challenge to run the equivalent of about 17 marathons over 30 days on the same half-mile (0.8 km) “mundane” stretch of road in Waddington, Lincolnshire.

The 38-year-old, who ran under the pseudonym Neville because he wanted to remain anonymous, raised more than £8,500 for cancer research.

Neville was also joined by co-runners each day, all of whom had been affected by cancer in some way.

Describing the challenge as a “bit spicy”, Neville said it was “nothing compared to what people go through with cancer”.

The challenge involved running the same number of miles each day commensurate with the calendar date.

He ran one mile on 1 June, two miles on 2 June, increasing to 30 miles on 30 June.

Neville, who also ran the final mile of each day while carrying the Cancer Research UK flag, wearing springy eye glasses, and shouting “just one more mile”, was joined by host of co-runners.

These included a man who is undergoing treatment for throat cancer and is fed though a tube, a cancer nurse who travelled three hours to take part and people running in memory of a loved one.

“Nearly all of them pushed themselves several miles beyond any distance they had previously run, all because they believed in the work that Cancer Research UK do,” he said.

“Each had their own motivation for getting involved; stories of beating the odds, stories of loss, stories of ongoing battles,” he added.

Neville said he was the antipode of the type of person who you might expect to take on such a challenge, adding that the final week had been especially hard due to the heat and the distance.

“But in the grand scheme of things, this was about raising money for cancer research, so tiredness and blisters are nothing compared to what people go through with cancer,” he said.

To date, including gift aid, the charity effort has raised more than £8,500.

The runner said donations were still coming in and he hoped “it might just creep over the £10,000 line”.

People could also read the personal stories of those who took part on Neville’s Instagram page, he said.

He added that the character of Neville would now “quietly slip away” after being heard quoting Forrest Gump.

“I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go home now.”

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