Dirt School coach, Gregor Nixon, runs 100km for charity

Around 6 months ago our amazing coach, Gregor decided he wanted a challenge to focus on and train for. Even some of the most passionate runners would look at a marathon, a distance of 42.1km as a great achievement and stop there. Gregor however decided that he wanted to do more than double that distance. His target was set at 100km. A distance not many of us normally cycle, never mind run!

With Gregor's dedication and amazing attitude he has been head down training since then. During this period of conditioning his body for the immense distance he struggled with some unfortunate injuries, the main one being a damaged knee that hindered his progress massively. This adversity inspired him to dedicate the 100km effort to a charity close to his heart. 

Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. Having struggled himself with mental health during his mid teens it seemed fitting to set the date Sunday the 27th of November and start raising money for a good cause.

Gregor's run started at 4am on Sunday the 27th with a cold but clear forecasted day. His small support team were scheduled to meet him every 20km to refuel and  keep up morale. The run for Gregor was hard from the beginning. Nursing a painful knee from 3km in, he knew was going to have a tough day. However. Greg being Greg that let that didn't stop him. He steamed along and got to 60km on schedule where his family, close friends and our own Innes were there to cheer him on and also join his run on foot and on bike. The support crew kept spirits high and the progress continued. By 80km Gregor was pretty close to full exhaustion but somehow his knee pain, according to him, had faded slightly. The final 10km were tough. Running into darkness Gregor, Dan (a childhood friend) and Innes were finally greeted by family and friends one last time along with two of his Uni Lecturers who ran the final 2km together and completed the day in style.

100.53km, 12 hours 40 minutes, 115,180 steps and 9,149 calories later, we are immensely proud of Gregor. For not only completing his goal but for raising money for this charity. If you wanted to donate to his Movember page and help get the total amount raised to £3,000 you can click the link below: 

https://uk.movember.com/mospace/14764263

Well done, Greg!