Endurance athlete extraordinaire Ben Blowes from Gazeley tackles his toughest challenge for charity Tom’s Trust - running 31 marathons in 31 days

Endurance athlete extraordinaire and Guinness World Record holder Ben Blowes will be tackling his toughest challenge to date next month, when he attempts to complete 31 marathons in 31 days.

The Pride of Britain nominee, who lives in Gazeley, just outside Newmarket, and is a veteran of more than 30 marathons and ultra marathons, will be running as part of Tom’s Trust’s 31 Stars campaign to raise funds for the provision of psychological and mental health care for children with brain tumours.

The Cambridgeshire-based charity was founded in 2011 by Andrew and Debs Whiteley, whose only son Tom died of a brain tumour when he was just nine. At the time the family desperately needed more psychological support they found there was almost none and set out to ensure that in future it would be available in Tom’s name.

By completing a marathon a day, Ben, 47, hopes to raise enough funds to provide a full year of psychological care for 31 vulnerable children suffering with brain tumours.

And if that is not enough of a challenge, he is aiming to run all 31 marathons in under four hours each, and all while continuing to do his full-time job.

“I am so proud to support the Tom’s Trust children,” said Ben. “And I am looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“After meeting Deborah a few years ago and hearing her talk about her son Tom, and the changes that she wanted to make in his name, I knew that I had to do something to help

“Every painful step I take in December will be helping to support a child and their family and as a father myself, it is important to me to try and help.

Three years ago, fitness instructor Ben, who runs Vivo Fitness, completed the London Marathon with a tumble dryer on his back becoming a world record holder in the process.

In December last year he encouraged people to join him and his training partner Martyn Taylor as they ran 100 miles in 24 hours in laps round the town, raising over £18,000 for a Newmarket schoolgirl injured in a road crash, and in April he ran 50 miles around his front garden for the West Suffolk Hospital’s My WiSH charity.

To support Ben’s marathon effort go to justgiving.com/campaign/31Stars.

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