Johnny’s 100km charity challenge
Tackling two marathons back to back whilst scaling the peaks of the Lakes District is no mean feat – but businessman Jonathan Graham is taking it all in his stride in memory of a much-loved pub boss.
Tributes poured in from across the region when Mark Hird, 46, of Burdon Village, lost his battle with cancer in December 2019.
A hugely-respected businessman, Mark founded the Tavistock Hospitality Group, steering it to great success and changing the face of dining on Wearside while also branching into South Tyneside and Hartlepool.
At his side throughout it all, since the pair met at college, was best friend and colleague Jonathan who is taking on an UltraMarathon to raise funds for St Benedict’ s Hospice which provided Mark with some much-needed comfortin his final days.
The mammoth challenge will see him take on a 100km loop of the Lakes District, starting at Kendal running up over the testing Garburn Pass leading onto Wind er mere and Ambleside. As part of the feat, he’ll run around the west side of Lake Windermere and on to the steep climb of Hampsfell (2500m above sea level).
The distance is equivalent to running two marathons back to back, and then another half marathon – and he’s aiming to do it all between 1416 hours.
The operations director at Tavistock Hospitality Group is in the midst of training for the challenge and regularly runs from his home in Hartlepool to work at the Rok er Hotel, which is the hospitality group’s base.
“I feel like Mark will be by my side throughout the UltraMarathon and that’s what will spur me on,” he said.
Although the St Benedict’s hospice in Ryhope, S under land, is part funded by the NHS, it relies heavily on fundraising for its registered charity to be able to continue its care provision, including specialist palliative care.
However, its usual revenue stream has been seriously affected by the pandemic due to regular fundraising events being cancelled.
It’s estimated that one in three people in the city will require the hospice’s services at some point, either through their care or that of their family members.
Jonathan said: “I’ll never forget the comfort they gave to Mark and I really wanted to do something to say thank you. What I like about fundraising for them is that I know the money will go direct to the hospice in Ryhope and not to some charity headquarters in London.”
Jonathan and Mark met on their very first day studying hotel and catering at Newcastle College when they were just 16.
They graduated in 1994 and worked in various restaurants before Mark opened his own establishment in 2000. That was the award winning 11 Tavistock Place, which he ran with his wife Nicola.
Over the next 19 years Mark and Nicola, who have three children together, opened over 30 properties under different brand names, with Jonathan by their side as operations director.
The hospitality group will also be running a series of raffleson its social media pages as part of the fundraising.
You can donate to the fundraiser, which has already smashed its target of £2,000, at https://www.justgiving. com/crowdfunding/jonathanmark