I'm raising £4000 to split between Gary Cox's project to become a Top20 Wheelchair Tennis Player and CALM
Organised by Neil Frankel
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Here we go again…
Last year, I ran a 55k for 2k project to raise funds for CALM and Gary Cox. In 2025 I’d like to double the amount raised so it seems to make sense to double the distance right??
I’m not quite up for 110k in one go yet so have chosen to run the 2x Ultra Marathon distance mileage across one week.
The plan is:
55K in the mountains of North Wales at the Ultra Trail Snowdonia on Saturday May 17th 2025
5k at the 'Trail Tuesdays x Grateful Mile' on Tuesday May 20th 2025
15K on the 'El Classico Clapham' Route on Wednesday May 21st 2025
35K at the South Downs Way UK Ultra on Saturday May 24th 2025
I am running 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 continue 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. After taking some notable scalps in 2024 against players ranked as high as 26 in the world, the only way to level the playing field against the world's best is to contribute towards his mounting travel costs as he hunts down the ranking points overseas he needs to fulfil his true potential and achieve his goals.
We will split any funds raised 75:25 for Gary Cox:CALM.
Last year, the 55K in Snowdonia was pretty brutal (although on the plus side, I ate so many pain au chocolates the following week to build the reserves back it felt almost worth it) so I’m looking forward to see what’s possible the week following the same event this time around.
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.
To put some perspective on the mountain race, The London Marathon is often seen as the blue ribband long distance running challenge. It is 42.2k long and has an elevation of 259.4 metres with a maximum elevation of 53.4 metres. The Ultra Trail Snowdonia is 55k long and has an elevation of 3300 metres with a maximum elevation of 1085 metres. That's the equivalent of ascending and descending 984 flights of stairs. There is about 500 metres of tarmac on the route, the rest is steep, rocky mountain pathways. In 2024, it took me 12.5hours and I’m planning to shave 30 mins off this year to come in under 12 hours.
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 races and the route itself, check out the website here. https://snowdonia.utmb.world/races/UTS-50K
You can also join me on Tuesday / Wednesday for the 5k trail Tuesday x Grateful Mile and The 15k 'El classsio Clapham' Route. More info on how to sign up for that to follow.
For up-to-date blogs and progress check out the movement project website. https://themovementproject.uk/
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: https://www.thecalmzone.net/
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. https://www.instagram.com/garycoxwheelchairtennis/
