786 miles (1266km), 125 hours and nine minutes and approximately 105,000 calories burned…
These numbers represent the distance, time and effort Mark McGuire has put into raising funds for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) charity in memory of his friend Ben Forsyth.
In June, the University of Stirling student set out to complete a challenge to run a marathon every day for the whole month, to fundraise money for a charity.
He chose to raise money for CRY to commemorate his best friend and British Youth Champion cyclist Ben Forsyth who passed away from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) ‑ a progressive and incurable disease of the heart muscles.
“I met Ben back in 2012 when I just started bike racing. Ben was already a good cyclist and a really good youth who went on to win the British Championship. I looked up to Ben and wanted to be a racer like him,” Mark says.
Mark’s target sum was £500 at the beginning of June. Now, a week after he has finished his 30 day challenge, he has successfully raised almost £24,000 (and counting), exceeding his original target by 4,781%.
“When I told my family/friends I was going to attempt the 30 marathons in 30 days they thought I was crazy, and I couldn’t do it! ‘You’ll injure yourself badly Mark and not complete it’. This all helped me as I wanted to prove them all wrong. I never had any doubt from day one as I knew I would get the job done.”
In the UK, every week around 12 healthy young people die from undiagnosed heart conditions. CRY’s goal is to prevent sudden cardiac deaths among youths.
“I’m raising money for screening days so all my low moments I have, I think about that and why I am running,” he explains.
For every £5,000 raised, CRY can screen 100 young people.
As for the future, Mark says that “there is definitely another challenge coming! I think I have found something I like doing here and yes of course would try another challenge but for now I will let the body rest and recover!”
If you would like to contribute to Mark’s fundraise please visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MarkMcGuire9
Film, Media and Journalism student at the University of Stirling. Sports editor @ Brig Newspaper. Bylines in Edinburgh Evening Times and the SPA National Magazine.
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