Marathon effort raises key cash for charities

A West Lothian runner completed a gruelling 500-mile charity challenge throughout the month of July.

Paul Brown, from Armadale, ran a mile for every corresponding date of the month, meaning he had to tot up 496 miles during the 31 days of July.

Paul spoke to the West Lothian Courier days after finishing the mammoth task.

He said: “I have run a lot over the years but doing something on that scale was a wee bit different.

“The last 10 days were pretty tough, and it was almost like having to run 10 marathons in 10 days.

“It was definitely the biggest challenge I have taken on, scale-wise, anyway. Just knowing I had to get up again every day after being out covering big distances was hard.

“I got through it, though, and there will be another challenge coming up soon. I need them to keep me going but for now it will be some nice food and wine and then I will get to thinking about what to do next.”

The challenge was run in aid of the charities Neil’s Hugs and Held In Our Hearts.

Held In Our Hearts offer baby loss counselling and support to families. Neil’s Hugs is a West Lothian charity that provide support for families and friends affected by suicide.

Paul explained: “I have been fundraising for Held In Our Hearts for a while now. They were formerly known as SANDS Lothian, of course.

“I have undertaken a few of these sorts of challenges over the years and was introduced to Held In Our Hearts a few years ago by a friend who had lost a child. It just took off from there and I have been delighted to have been able to help them in a small way over the years.

“With it being a bigger challenge I knew I could raise a lot of money and decided to choose another charity to support as well.

“I chose Neil’s Hugs because my son’s friend had taken his own life and they do so much good work in this area. They are local to me as well so this made them an easy choice.”

The chief operating officer from Hand In Our Hearts, Angie Alexander, said: “Paul is a bit of a running machine. He has done quite a lot of really incredible challenges for us over the years. He has an affinity with our charity and is very selfless and humble, we are incredibly grateful.”

Paul is keeping his fundraising page open to bring in as many donations as possible for his chosen charities.

To donate visit www. facebook.com/ paulbrownfundraising.