7 Marathons in 7 Days, off road across Scotland.

We at Longridge and Preston North Rotary have been looking for fresh and innovative ways to raise funds for good causes, through small r and more focused events and challenges. So, to encourage you to part with your hard-earned cash. Stuart and Ian and I, are fell running for seven days across Scotland, taking in as many peaks as we can with a minimum of 26.2miles per day, some days being in excess of 30miles. We are going to face a lot of hills on varied terrain, and as its Scotland, possibly our fair share of wind and rain.

We have been training hard for the last four years but are in no doubt this is going to hurt, both physically and mentally.

You will be able to follow our progress on Longridge Rotary Facebook and Strava, we will be posting once a day with photos and a blog.

Where practical, we will follow the John Muir Way (https://johnmuirway.org), Scotlands own Coast-to-Coast, taking five days to run from west to east and then heading back for another two days to complete the challenge.

Ian and I are fully funding our adventure and therefore 100% of your donation will be divided between:

Brian House Childrens Hospice - who provide palliative care to terminally ill children (https://www.brianhouse.org.uk/)

The Sir Tom Finney Sports Academy football for all any age any ability

(https://sirtomfinneysc.co.uk)

Kidz 4 Kidz -. Community Theatre Company

(www.kidz4kidz.co)

Local community projects

A little about ourselves:

Stuarts story:

4 years ago, aged 50, I was overweight (nearly 16 stone) and suffering with bad knees. I went to see a doctor about the pain, who told me I had worn away the cartilage between my kneecap and knee bone. The best thing I could do was lose weight and build the muscles around the knee. He suggested running and gym work. As all do, I started with a couch to 5k and then just kept running and building up my distances. After a couple of years I started running on Longridge Fell and fell in love with trail running.

It was a suggestion by a Rotary member that because I liked running that I should do a running challenge to raise money for charity and the club. So the idea of running 7 marathons in 7 days was born.

Little did I realise how much training and suffering I would need to go through just to get to the start line.

I know this is going to be very hard and painful both physically and mentally, but it is for a good cause. Please dig deep and support our causes. Thank you, Stuart.

Ians story:

I have always hated running as a sport. In fact, the idea of it even being considered a sport was an offensive concept to me. In my mid-thirties I decided I would start to run around the village to stay fit. Each run, once a week, was only 1.5miles long and resulted in me collapsing outside my front door on my return.

My running was sporadic until I foolishly agreed to run a marathon before I was 40. I completed my one and only marathon, finding it desperately unenjoyable and didn't run again for 10 years. Turning 50 I decided I would make more of an effort, running a six-mile loop three times a week. During lockdown I extended this to nine miles which coincidentally took me past Stuart's showroom in Thornton. One day Stuart caught me running past and offered to introduce me to fell running.

My first run in the fells, in February was entertaining, slipping and sliding in road trainers up Longridge Fell! Over the coming weeks I committed to running a fell each Sunday. On about week eight, Stuart asked if I would like to do an ultra with him... if the distance wasnt bad enough (60km), he wanted to do it up and down Mount Snowdon! At 53 years of age and with no more than a 10mile run under my belt over the last 14yrs, I was quite clear - "no, no and no!".

Roll forward 18 months and here we are, a few weeks away from attempting a fell run across Scotland, covering around 200miles in seven days!

Yes I know it will hurt, yes I know I will be so tired I will stop caring where my feet land,but I must avoid tripping over a boulder and suffering a serious injury. In short, I'm terrified I wont make it, for the charities we have committed to and for Stuart, who running across the fells alone will present a serious safety issue. Thank you, Ian.

So please dig deep for the charities we are committed to, and we promise to dig deep to get through the next 200 miles of mud and rock.