Charity Champ Ran 11 Marathons In 11 Days

A 26-year-old man who challenged himself to run 11 marathons in 11 days to cover the distance from Exeter to Birmingham, crossed the finish line, having raised over £14,000 for our charity.

London-based Harvey Knight was inspired to set himself the gargantuan challenge after seeing his friends complete a lengthy Lands End to John O’Groats cycle last year. Having completed a handful of individual marathons previously, Harvey knew he wanted to take his pastime to a new level and began thinking about how he could make this challenge his toughest yet.

Originally from Stratford Upon Avon, Harvey thought about his West Midlands roots and chose our charity as his cause, inspired by friends and family who had received care there in the past. This, teamed with Harvey’s passion for Aston Villa Football Club gave him the idea of planning the route of his running challenge to follow the career path and signings of his favourite Villa player, forward, Ollie Watkins.

Harvey meticulously planned his course, which would see him begin at Exeter City Football Club, before travelling north along A-roads to Weston Super-Mare AFC. Eventually then, Harvey could join canal tow paths to wind his way up to Brentford FC before crossing the finish line at Villa Park.

Based on his running experience, Harvey estimated he could complete the 288.2 mile run over 11 days as long as he completed 26.2 miles – a marathon – on each day. Harvey smiled to himself as he realised Ollie Watkins’ shirt number is also 11.

After almost nine months of route planning, fundraising and training, Harvey began his challenge and quickly got into a rhythm that allowed him to complete his miles in the first six hours of each day before taking the afternoons to rest and get a good night’s sleep ready for the next day’s marathon.

Harvey said: “There were a lot of unknown elements to this challenge and I’d be lying if I said it was easy but after all, I wanted a challenge, and it wasn’t until the last couple of days that I started to feel niggles in my legs and ankles.

“I’m blown away with how generous my friends, family, colleagues and even strangers have been with their sponsorship. I’d initially set myself a £2,000 fundraising target but after hitting that, I knew the next milestone would have to be £11,000, in keeping with the challenge.”

Will Graves, Senior Regional Fundraiser at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Completing one marathon is no mean feat but 11 marathons in as many days is just incredible and we can’t thank Harvey enough for choosing to support our brave patients.

“The phenomenal funds Harvey raised through his monumental challenge will go on to help us create better experiences for our sick kids, through the improvement of our environment and the funding of new equipment and research.”