A pair of fitness fanatic brothers have raised over £3,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity after completing 10 marathons each in the space of five days.

30-year-old Chris Wood, from Tamworth and his brother Mark, 35, both ran, cycled and rowed over 52 miles each day to complete the crazy distance, and whilst it was gym-owner Mark’s idea, it was Chris who chose the cause.

Working as a physiotherapist at another Birmingham hospital, Chris knows only too well how tough the past two years have been on the NHS, but with the pandemic drawing a focus to the care of older generations, Chris was set on using the challenge to do more for the sick kids at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Coming from a family full of children, Mark agreed wholeheartedly with his brother’s choice of charity and without much planning or training, the pair began the first of their many marathons. Each morning Chris and Mark alternated by running or completing the 26-mile distance on a rowing machine, followed by a marathon on their bikes in the afternoon.

As the days passed, each marathon got a little harder, as fatigue and the monotony set in, especially during stints on the static rowing machine, but during the final two days the brothers saw donations to their Just Giving page rocket. It was just the boost they needed to complete the final leg of their challenge.

Chris said: “I’ve worked with kids in my job and I absolutely love paediatric care, but on a personal level, I have a lot of children in my family and have friends who have lost children to illness. I can’t imagine the thought of such a tragedy in my life, so to use our challenge to help poorly kids was just an obvious choice to me.

“The challenge was a lot tougher than Mark or I could have imagined, and it took quite a lot of recuperation to get over it afterwards, but the thought of the good we could do with the money raised, filled me with so much happiness.”

Miranda Williams, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “For most of our supporters one marathon would be enough of a challenge, let alone 10! Chris and Mark have blown us away with their determination and commitment to their mammoth challenge and we can’t thank them enough. The funds they’ve raised will benefit so many of our sick kids and their families.”