FAMILY and friends turned out in force to support an intrepid fundraiser complete one massive final five-kilometre lap
Barnard Castle’s Kevin Maughan set himself the challenge of running 48, five kilometre routes in 48 hours to raise money for the Maia Mouse Foundation.
The keen runner started his mammoth challenge on Friday afternoon from his home in Albert Close. But after completing 34 runs, or 170 kilometres, pain and exhaustion forced him to stop.
He said: “I finished at 1am on Sunday morning. It had got to the point I didn’t know where I was. The pain in my thighs was beaten by the pain in my shins and we decided it was best if I stopped. The constant pounding on the pavement was just too much.”
However, after catching a couple of hours sleep the intrepid fundraiser, who had been accompanied by friends and family throughout to keep up his moral, decided to do one more “massive” lap.
He added: “I felt pretty deflated that I hadn’t finished and put a call out to get as many people to join me in one final lap. I was hoping there would be 14 people that would come to cover the 14 laps I didn’t manage to do.”
Mr Maughan was overwhelmed when more than 40 people turned up on Sunday afternoon to join him complete the last five kilometres.
He said: “There were no words for it. I’m just massively grateful for all the support and the donations to the Maia Mouse Foundation.”
Mr Maughan cycled the final lap leading the smiling supporters through the streets of Barnard Castle.
His challenge smashed his original target of raising £500, pulling in £3,438 for the charity, which was set up in 2016 by a Barnard Castle family in memory of 11-month-old Maia Olivia Baum, who died with a rare form of cancer. If you would like to donate can visit justgiving.com/page/ kevin-maia-4848.
