4x4x48 challenge - run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours.

A group of 24 volunteers have decided to participate in the above challenge which was created by the famous American ultramarathon runner, David Goggins, and more recently completed by one of our friends, Jacob Wright, in Doha, Qatar.

For those who are not familiar with the challenge, the idea is to run 48 miles (76.8km) within 48 hours with the added challenge of sleep deprivation. To achieve this, every 4 hours each participant will have to run 4 miles (6.45km).

The challenge will start at 4am on Friday 5 March 2021 and repeat 12 times resulting in a total of 48 miles. We will be posting updates on Strava, Facebook and Instagram throughout the challenge and will share our pain for all to see.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic recession have negatively affected many people’s mental health and so we are performing this challenge to raise money and awareness of the importance of looking after one’s mental well-being. The challenge seems a perfect fit given it will undoubtedly test each runner’s mental strength.

Clearly we want to raise as much money as we can to help all those that are struggling and who are in real need right now, but whether we are successful in raising £100, £500 or £1000 (our set target), this isn’t our only goal – if this challenge helps to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and gives somebody the confidence to speak out then our efforts have been a success!

We wanted to try help the local (South Wales) community so therefore will be raising money for the following parties:

· Brecon and District Mind – a charity who supports people in the community affected by mental illness and distress. They do this by providing high quality services to promote good mental health and well-being.

· Tackle Your Thoughts – a fairly new idea set up by David Evans whom many of you may already be aware of. Tackle Your Thoughts is in the process of being incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) who’s ambition is to raise awareness and educate our community that mental health is not something to be ashamed of - emphasising that there is help available and speaking out and openly is a brave thing to do. Any contribution will massively help them have a great head start and therefore allow the message to get out into the community as soon as possible!

ALL SUPPORT WILL BE GRATEFULLY APPRECIATED AND CAN REALLY HELP MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY!

Note: as we have decided to split the fundraising between two different parties, we would of had to create two separate donation links which could not guarantee a fair split of the funds (i.e. one link could attract a much higher donation than the other). Therefore, we have set up one link. Once the event has finished and the donation page closed, I will post photographic evidence to show that funds have been transferred to both parties.

**Please note that this event will be run (pardon the pun!) in line with COVID-19 Government guidelines that are in place between 5-7 March 2021**