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I am running 55K in the mountains of North Wales at the Ultra Trail Snowdonia on May 11th 2024 to support of my friend Matt Bagwell who has some unfinished business left to raise £105,000 for The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) after running 21 Ultra Marathons in 26 days in 2021.
Alongside this, we've been working tirelessly to raise funds to support Gary Cox's mission to break in to the World's Top 20 Quad Wheelchair Players. This requires an insane amount of dedication, training, travel and competition. We believe this is a worthy pursuit and want to help Gary level the playing field against the world's best. To do this, we will continue to evolve his programme and contribute towards mounting travel costs as he hunts down the ranking points he needs to fulfil his potential and achieve his goals.
I accidentally ran two back-to-back ultra marathons in 2021 and can still feel the effects of in my legs every day. The race in the mountains of Snowdonia will undoubtedly be the hardest physical challenge I’ve ever undertaken. Supporting CALM (a suicide prevention charity) and helping to fulfil the aspirations of an elite wheelchair athlete is an absolute privilege and will hopefully spur me on to dig deep when it gets tough (It will undoubtedly get tough).
To put some perspective on the race. The London Marathon is often seen as the blue ribband long distance running challenge. It is 42.2 K long and has an elevation of 259.4 metres with a maximum elevation of 53.4 metres. The Ultra Trail Snowdonia is 55 K long and has an elevation of 3300 metres with a maximum elevation of 1085 metres. There is about 500 metres of tarmac on the route, the rest is steep, rocky mountain pathways. Sounds like type 2 fun. Let's Go.
I would very much appreciate it if you could spare a little change to help support the wonderful causes that I'm running for.
For more info about the race and the route itself, check out the website here.
For up to date blogs and progress check out the movement project website here.
About the causes:
CALM : £8 funds one potentially life-saving call to CALM. Every 61 seconds someone calls CALM for help. The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK. Anyone can hit crisis point. CALM run a free and confidential helpline and webchat 7 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone who needs to talk about life's problems.
Gary Cox: Is a part-time Team GB elite wheelchair tennis athlete determined to leave no-stone unturned to see what's possible in his craft. His career high world ranking has been 41. He is on a mission to break into the Top 20 players in the world. Keep a track on what Gary on insta here.
