AN INTERNET cricketing star has raised money for Mind after running further than a marathon.
Social media personality Kieran Hornsby, 25, raised £1,700 pound for the mental health charity after successfully running 50 kilometres from Sussex County Cricket Club's ground to Arundel Castle.
Kieran who helps run the YouTube channel WeCricket, which has over 250,000 subscribers, took on the challenge after seeing the difficulties close friends and family went through in recent months.
He said: “I have always been a keen runner and the idea of doing some ridiculous challenge has always been something I have wanted to do. With everything going on in the world it would be good to do it for something worthwhile, rather than me just plodding around.
“Because of the pandemic and it being in the forefront of everyone’s mind, I've had a few family members and close friends that have struggled, so they were the first people I thought of and they would be the best people to support”.
The distance Kieran ran was longer than a marathon - 31 miles.
He put in training for the challenge but still found it difficult.
Kieran said: “My training was a lot of 25 to 30 kilometres which was the idea from there and build it up to there and on the day just muddle through the last 20 kilometres. On the day, the first 30 kilometres was fine, and I was thinking it was going to be easy.
“Then I suddenly just hit something and was left wondering how am I going to run for another two hours, my left knee was so swollen. The last ten kilometres was painful, but I managed to get over the line.”
Kieran was born in Chichester and now lives in Arundel. He said the thought of running home was a big motivator once the challenge started to get harder.
He said: “It was a nice feeling that I knew I was running home and that once I had finished, I was home. However, I did keep picturing the hill up to the castle at the end of the run which was a daunting task.”
Kieran managed to complete the challenge in five hours and twenty minutes and beat the target of £1,000 that he had set on his JustGiving page.
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