A University of Aberdeen student who completed a 51-mile ultramarathon across Wales has raised more than £3,000 for a leading suicide prevention charity.
Richard Austin, 27, ran from Anchor, a small hamlet on the English side of the Wales-England border, to the finish line in Aberystwyth in 14 hours alongside his two friends.
Richard, who is in the third year of his geoscience PhD, took up running during the Covid-19 pandemic and along with friends Callum Davies and Finn Gibbens, decided to take on the challenge to raise money for a worthy cause.
“We decided to run the shortest route across Wales, it’s pretty much a straight line across the country,” Richard explains.
“We all had been training since about December so we were in pretty good shape leading up to it.
“We’d scouted the route the week before and some of the paths were just signs pointing through fields, which gave us a bit of a shock. We knew it wasn’t going to be plain sailing.
“On the morning of it, we were excited to set off but we were swiftly brought back down to earth as the first 40km of the marathon terrain was completely overgrown and very boggy because of the weather.”
Despite challenges with the terrain, Richard, Callum and Finn were determined to not be beaten by the Welsh landscape.
Richard continues: “Once we reached the more solid trails leading to Aberystwyth, it was a bit easier. It was a case of ‘get your head down and crack on’.
“I’m very fortunate being up here in Aberdeen – I go up the Cairngorms quite a lot hiking and running, so I’m used to climbing. During the ultramarathon, we had to climb 600 more metres than we were expecting, due to changing the route which also added on six miles. That was a bit of a punch to the stomach.
“But we were raising money for a mental health charity and knew people are suffering much more than we were during the run, so that kept us going.”
Richard, Callum and Finn battled through and made it to Aberystwyth 14 hours after leaving Anchor – only two hours longer than they had planned. And in the process, the trio have raised £3,246 for charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), which supports those struggling with their mental health and aims to reduce suicide levels.
“I have friends who suffer from anxiety and depression and I know in some people it can become so severe they do think about suicide. It costs CALM £12.20 to answer a phone call that could save someone’s life.
“Considering we have friends who do suffer, it resonated with us as a meaningful charity that was also close to home for us. The thing I’m proudest of is that we’ve raised so much money for them.
“We completed our goals and well and truly surpassed them – both with the run and raising money for charity.”