North Yorkshire teenager commits to 6 marathons in 6 continents
16 year old Marcus Skeet from Malton plans on taking on the challenge next year
A North Yorkshire teenager is taking on another huge challenge for mental health.
Marcus Skeet from Malton - who only started running earlier this year - will be attempting to run SIX marathons in SIX continents in SIX weeks early next year.
The 16 year old just completed his first 26 mile run last week.
Marcus - who first donned his trainers back in April - says it's been an enlightening year:
'I started off in April doing a mile a day, every day for the month, and then I moved on to five kilometres a day and then I decided, with the help of Russ Cook – the man who ran the length of Africa - that I was going to attempt a marathon in September.
'It’s been about 3-4 months of training every day and going to the gym, getting myself prepared for it and trying to do a marathon for mental health, trying to raise money for the mind charity. And yeah, on Saturday (7 September) we completed it. What a mental experience that was – it was very surreal, very emotional, but also an incredible day.'
Marcus has been raising money for the charity, MIND and to raise awareness for mental health.
To date, he's generated over ÂŁ23,000 for the charity MIND.
Writing on his own Just Giving page, he says:
'For the last 3 years I have been suffering with bad mental health, including suicidal thoughts, depression and OCD intrusive thoughts. MIND holds a very close place in my heart and what they do for speaking out and helping people is truly incredible.
'Having lost a friend to the battle and having family who have suffered in the past, my goal is to spread the word of mental health and make people realise it is OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY. Speaking out is such a beautiful thing and it genuinely does save lives!!'
Marcus says his next challenge will be tough...
'I'm going to have to try and find a training plan, but there isn't many training plans.
'I think the problem is in continents - for example, Europe's going to be colder than Africa and especially in places like Africa and Asia, it's going to be very hot humidity. So it's all well and good training in the countryside in Yorkshire. But when it gets to, you know, a place like Senegal or Morocco or Thailand, it's going to be very difficult.
'l probably need to prepare quite specifically. I’m not sure how it’ll look right now but we've got a few weeks to prepare, I suppose.’