Uni student from Farnham joins flatmates in running 'lockdown corridor marathon'

A group of Durham University students have run a marathon in their accommodation while on coronavirus lockdown.

Taking turns to cover more than 2,800 lengths of their 15-metre corridor, they have raised in excess of £2,000 for charity in the process.

When two people in their Trevelyan College flat tested positive for COVID-19, the remaining 13 were left with plenty of time on their hands as they entered two-weeks of isolation – just a fortnight after meeting for the first time.

It was when one of them said they wanted to do a 5k by running from end to end of their landing, that they had the idea to run a marathon instead.

Among them was Milly, originally from Farnham in Surrey.

She said: “We worked out how long the corridor is, and we got some of the maths uni students to help us out and then we ran it 2,813 times - which is quite a crazy number.”

As a flat they decided to take on the challenge in aid of Help Musicians, which has been supporting those in the music industry unable to work due to the pandemic.

Explaining why, Lucy, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, said: “As a household we were all grouped together through our love of music, so we really wanted to show some appreciation for an industry that's been really hit by COVID.

"We really liked Help Musicians as a charity because they create a lot of development funding and mental health support, which is really important for musicians during this difficult time.”