INTERNET sensation Jonny Davies is planning to run to every capital in the UK and Ireland.
The runner is already known for setting himself some difficult challenges. Here’s what we know about Jonny.
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Who is Jonny Davies?
Jonny Davies is a former rugby player based in Balham, south London.
The running man made headlines after sprinting the entire London Underground in 11 days in September 2023.
He ran one of the 11 tube lines above ground every day over the course of the challenge, which is approximately 572 km.
That’s the equivalent of 13 marathons.
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In the process, Davies has raised over £23,000 for the charity CALM (Campaigning Against Living Miserably).
Jonny isn’t the standard type of a runner, standing at 6ft 4in and weighing 100kg.
A former rugby player for Wimbledon Rugby, he only started running five years ago during a tumultuous period in his life, marked by stress, grief and heartache.
The influencer said: “When I started out doing it, I wasn’t very good at it.
“I’m not built like a typical distance runner as I’m quite a big lad. I like the fact it’s hard and it doesn’t come naturally to me.
“Even just running 3k, I don’t find that particularly easy. It’s never easy.”
In terms of raising money for charity, he told Runners World: “In the UK at the moment we’re living through a mental health crisis.
“I know so many people suffering with mental health problems, and I’ve got friends who have used Calm’s services.
“I know it costs a lot to run these services – it is manpower and people’s time on the phone. So for me, it was an incredible thing to be able to support CALM.”
Why is he running to every UK capital?
Jonny aka The Tube Runner is now setting his sights on an even bigger feat.
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On September 12, 2024, he will be running to all of the capital cities of the UK and Ireland, starting in Edinburgh and finishing in London.
In between, the inspirational athlete will get a ferry to Northern Ireland and then run to Belfast.
He will then head on to Dublin before getting a boat to Wales to run to Cardiff and finally to London.
It will be a total of 900km (559 miles) over 10 days for suicide prevention month.
Consequently, he hopes to raise money for CALM again.
This time, however, he aims to reach a goal of £100,000 for the charity.
When we face challenges together, they’re far easier to deal with.
Jonny Davies
In an Instagram post, he wrote: “The support you showed me last year as I ran the London Underground was incredible and it showed me that we are not alone in our challenges, so I invite you all to join me in any and all of the cities I am running through during this challenge.”
Speaking to PA, the athlete said it will take between 12 and 14 hours a day.
He has reportedly been training for the challenge for more than a year and intends on doing practice runs on sections of the journey “just to be a bit more familiar with those places”.
Ahead of the challenge, he said: “I’m feeling great, I’m excited”.
He continued: “There were so many lessons learned from running the Tube that really helped prepare me, so I know what I’m in for on these 10 days, in the sense that, when you ask yourself to do something, there’s always more in the tank.”
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Talking about his motivation to run, he said: “I’ve always found it fascinating how people can push themselves to do incredible feats of human endurance and I never thought I was a person who was going to be able to do that myself.
“Through years of improving my physical and mental health through running, I thought: what better way to almost thank the sport that has helped me than by using it as a way to raise money and awareness for something that is close to my heart?
“When we face challenges together, they’re far easier to deal with.”
After his fundraising efforts, Jonny has been named a finalist in the Endurance Fundraiser of the Year category at the GoCardless JustGiving Awards 2024.
Pascale Harvie, president and general manager of JustGiving, said: “Words cannot describe how impressive Jonny’s challenges are and we are absolutely delighted to have him as a finalist in our Endurance Fundraiser of the Year category.
“We wish Jonny the very best of luck in his next mammoth fundraising challenge and we cannot wait to celebrate all his achievements at our awards ceremony in September.”
What other runs has Jonny taken part in?
The Lululemon ambassador and TikTok star had run two ultramarathons before the Tube challenge.
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However, he had never completed a multi-day ultra before and said at the time that it was his hardest running event to date.
Among the previous runs, Jonny has taken part in the Country to Capital Ultra Marathon, which he said was “one of the toughest 70k” he’d ever run.
He explained: “It was the mud at the start.
“It was trying to get through all of that and then carrying the weight in your shoes.
“Just slopping up those hills. That was hard.”
The Country to Capital is well-known as a race of two halves, starting off along muddy trails as it slaloms its way across the Buckinghamshire countryside.
The second half sees runners sweep their way along the much flatter Grand Union Canal before finishing at the Stowe Centre next to the Little Venice Canal in London.
Meanwhile, his UK capitals run will take him across the country.
So far, he has raised over £4,000 this time round.
To support his cause and contribute to CALM, you can visit Jonny’s JustGiving page here.