The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Two runners and a Ryder
Challenge: Murray and Dunstan hitting ultra-trail for golf and charity
Aberdeen-born ultra-distance runner Andrew Murray sets off with golfer Paul Dunstan on Saturday to run 200 miles from Wentworth in Surrey, home of Ryder Cup Europe, to Le Golf National, near Paris, which will host the 2018 Ryder Cup next September.
The pair will run farther than a marathon in each of seven days, while taking on various golfing challenges during their rest breaks.
This will include participating in the British Speedgolf open and a GolfSixes event before finishing off with a final round of 18 holes at Le Golf National.
The run coincides with the Year-to-Go celebrations as Europe and United States prepare to lock horns in the 42nd Ryder Cup.
“To highlight that exercise in the great outdoors can add seven years to your life”
Murray and Dunstan will also raise money for Golf In Society, an organisation which aims to improve the lives of people with dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
Murray is certainly no stranger to long-distance challenges.
He has run the 4,300 kilometres from the north of Scotland to the Sahara desert and has undertaken numerous ultra-distance challenges.
He has won the Genghis Khan Mongolia Ice Marathon for the past two years.
However, the 36-yearold Scotland 100km international runner, who also works as a sports and exercise medicine consultant with the University of Edinburgh and the European Tour Golf, is recovering from illness.
Last month he was admitted to hospital suffering from viral meningitis and he knows this new challenge won’t be easy.
He said: “We will be racking up about 50,000 to 60,000 steps per day, eating about 5,000 calories, and will be on the move golfing and running most of each day.
“We want to highlight that exercise in the great outdoors is the best thing you can do for your health. Going from being a couch potato to walking, running or playing golf regularly can add seven years to life. It can improve health and make you happier. We’re urging everyone to get outside and get walking, running, golfing or any other activity you enjoy.”
Dunstan, Ryder Cup operations director with the European Tour, said: “I’m not entirely sure what I’ve let myself in for. I enjoy running as well as golf but ask me at the end of the seven days how I feel about them.
“But the main aim is to promote the many benefits of not just golf and running, but exercise in general and having an active lifestyle, as well as funding for Golf In Society. If we can achieve these two objectives the sore legs we’ll have at the end will be worth it.”
The pair hope to raise £5,000 for Golf In Society. They can be supported at this link https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ GolfAndMentalHealth