Marathon man, Henry Cock reaches halfway mark in Guinness record quest
HALF-marathon challenger Henry Cock has reached the halfway mark in his goal to break a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive half-marathons in a row in 133 days.
Through his efforts, Cock hopes to raise more than R4 million for the SA Depression and Anxiety Group's (Sadag) national suicide helpline, which has seen an increase in calls received from 600 to over 1800 a day.
A half-marathon is a distance of 21.0975km, half a full marathon.
Cock plans to run 2 800km in total, from Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal, to Vioolsdrift in Namibia. He hit the halfway mark in St Francis in the Eastern Cape at the weekend.
“I'm not an ex-athlete or a professional sportsman of any kind. All I am trying to do is raise awareness of something that has affected me and people around me, and affects hundreds of millions of people globally,” he said.
His journey of discovering his own struggles with mental health was not an easy one, he said.
“I only became aware of my own mental health issues in 2019. The more I started to delve into my own personal experiences, the more I began to understand how important mental health is and the more I learnt that it is still a very stigmatised and taboo subject. It takes great courage to speak out and recognise that you suffer from a mental disorder.
“I used to struggle through it. I thought taking something for it showed weakness. My mind can't be weak? It needs to be strong and power through. It took me months of therapy to work up the courage and put myself on medicine, and admit to the people I cared about the most that I suffered from anxiety. I started seeing a therapist in 2019 – something I never thought I needed to do. She has helped me through some truly difficult times and continues to help me understand myself in a different way, to self-reflect and diagnose patterns in my behaviour and find ways to cope. Gaining this awareness and understanding has been incredibly empowering.”
Sadag founder Zane Wilson commended his efforts.
“Henry's fearlessness to achieve the amazing halfway mark of 66 half-marathons is so commendable. His incredible initiative and raising money via BackaBuddy is helping Sadag to reach many more people on our helplines.”
To donate, visit Backa-Buddy fundraising page: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/mentally-aweh.
Follow Cock's journey on Instagram @cock.Henry