‘I’m working a gruelling 2,722-mile problem – that is who impressed me’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

A younger British man is getting down to turn out to be the primary individual to run from the northernmost a part of Europe to Britain’s capital metropolis. Luke Bellingham, 23, is planning on working from Nordkapp, in Norway, to London this summer time in help of a brand new youngsters’s charity.

The run, which has a complete distance of 4,380km (2,722 miles), is anticipated to take him 73 days. Luke, a devoted ultra-runner and retail knowledgeable at Alpha Running in Lichfield, plans on masking 60km per day with none relaxation – the equal of working a mammoth 95 consecutive marathons.

He will begin his journey simply 300 miles contained in the Arctic Circle, earlier than working by way of 9 nations, together with Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and ending within the UK. Luke stated he’s impressed by Russ Cook, also called the Hardest Geezer, who turned the primary individual to run the size of Africa final yr.

He defined how he ran his first half marathon whereas at college in London. After finishing his diploma in journalism, he then went dwelling and returned to his job at B&M earlier than signing up for a ‘yard extremely marathon’.

Luke ended up working 73km round a 3km loop in a complete of 12 hours. This obtained him pondering, may he go on and do one thing a lot greater?

He stated: “Inspired by individuals like Russ Cook and Nedd Brockmann taking on their own incredible challenges, I found myself thinking – why not me? When I discovered that a run from Norway to England had never been attempted, I knew this was my opportunity to attempt something truly unique.”

He plans to begin the record-breaking run initially of August and has already began planning for the challenges that he would possibly face alongside the best way. Luke started coaching six months in the past and is anticipating unpredictable climate and ranging terrain all through the run.

His coaching consists of a mixture of power work and working. He is at the moment spending round two hours within the fitness center and working over 100km every week.

Luke stated: “I thought it would be easy to get on with it [the training]. Although there are some days where I can’t be bothered, I really enjoy the running side. I started slowly, running 5km four days a week. I thought it would be best to strip it back and restart the training.

“I then added 1km to every run per week after which doubled it and carried on. The first week I barely ran 30k after which final week I did 140k. I began a bit sooner than I wanted to however I believe that is a superb factor.”

In terms of nutrition, Luke said usually starts the day with porridge which includes fruit, protein powder, peanut butter and honey. He added: “Then commonplace sandwiches for lunch or one thing from the Iceland across the nook! And a basic Tesco meal deal earlier than I run the 20km dwelling – it should embody a white Kinder Bueno!”

Luke admitted that planning the journey route has been a big part of his preparation so far. He has also had to plan how many calories he needs to consume each day, what equipment he needs to take and how he plans to recover.

He explained: “There’s a number of of us within the workforce. I’ll be the one one working however considered one of them will drive the van and we’ll be doing frequent social media updates with footage and movies of the run. They’ll be serving to me get by way of every day as greatest as doable.

“To start with, we just used Google Maps to plan out the route. I managed to get the route to avoid motorways, taking us down the coast of Finland, Denmark and Sweden. I then used Google Earth to map out 60km stretches each day.

“Because of the placement, I believe the beginning in Norway will likely be fairly a baron route with not many automobiles round. Also, after I begin, there will likely be round 18 hours of daylight each day. But I’d relatively that than full darkness!”

During the run, Luke aims to consume around 7,000 calories per day depending on elevation and heat. He expects to burn around 500,000 calories through the whole journey and will be relying on frozen and dried meals to get through.

Luke is raising money for The Kids’ Village, a charity on a mission to build the UK’s first purpose-built holiday village for seriously ill children. Located in the Staffordshire countryside, the village will include 10 four-bedroom lodges and a central facility called “The Hive”.

He said the charity stood out to him because of their mission and the people that run it. “You can see why its such an essential charity and I wish to assist progress them ahead”, Luke explained.”

“The first ultra marathon I completed was sponsored by them. I then researched them more and saw that what they were doing was a UK first. This made me want to help them out as much as possible. They’re genuinely good people in the local community.”

The charity gained planning permission for the challenge in 2023 and is now elevating funds to make it occur. They describe the positioning as a “unique holiday village” designed to provide free breaks to critically-ill youngsters and their households.

The charity stated on its web site: “We’re making a special space in nature for rest, to have fun and to be looked after. This means that (when Kids’ Village is complete) we’ll be able to offer free breaks to families who’ve navigated difficult and exhausting days in hospital, to experience some magic away from the world.”

The village will embody cosy woodland lodges which might be embellished for every particular person youngster. The ceilings could flip into an evening sky, there could also be a princess costume up walk-in wardrobe or perhaps a lego kingdom constructed underneath a mattress.

There can even be a number of actions for the kids and their households to get pleasure from throughout their keep. These occasions will happen in “The Hive” – a central facility, café and check-in.

Luke has set himself a purpose of £10,000 on his on-line fundraiser. However, he hopes to lift as a lot cash as doable for The Kids’ Village.

“I’ve set a goal of £10,000 but that’s a big reach. This is the first challenge I’ve ever done, so I didn’t want to set the bar too high,” Luke stated. “But if it gets to £10,000 then I’d love to raise more. The sky is the limit really.”

Sam Fletcher-Goodwin, the founding father of The Kids’ Village, stated: “Luke’s incredible challenge embodies everything that Kids’ Village is about: hope, determination and courage. We’re inspired by his resilience and will be cheering him on as he makes the long journey from Norway to London this summer!

“It means an enormous quantity to us that Luke has chosen to lift cash for us. We’re a small charity, a tiny workforce with big plans and ambitions- I assume rather a lot like Luke!

“His efforts will go towards supporting hundreds of families who are experiencing horrible circumstances, just as I did as a child and it blows me away every time somebody joins me on this journey to build the UK’s first Kids’ Village.”

Amy Jacklin, the Fundraising Executive for the charity, added: “Luke has dedicated the last six months to training and we have followed his journey very closely, after he entered into a local team event ‘One More Lap’ last year solo, raising £400 for Kids’ Village. We have been working with him to get ready for this huge adventure.

“An enormous thanks goes to Luke for taking over this problem and everybody supporting him to get this far. Luke has given up a lot to do that problem and we will likely be cheering him on each step of the best way. Good luck!”

To donate cash for the trigger, click on right here. To learn extra about The Kids’ Village challenge, click on right here.