Runners challenged to do a marathon in a fortnight to help Wigan charity

Wigan and Leigh Running Community is inviting people to run 26.2 miles in aid of Joining Jack, which funds research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

While that may be daunting for many, runners will have two weeks to complete the distance, so they can break it into shorter runs if they do not want to do it all at once.

The challenge is being organised by the Facebook group after the success of a virtual event in June which asked people to run every day.

Jodie Danner, from Swinley, who runs the group with four friends, said: “After the first challenge, we had a lot of good feedback and people said it made them fall in love with running again, after not doing it since they were young, and it helped mentally too.

“A lot of people have carried on running since that challenge and are on day 60.”

Organisers had hoped to embark on another challenge in October, but after requests from members and two businesses willing to provide sponsorship, they decided to organise something sooner.

The group will donate a percentage of the entry fees to Duchenne charity Joining Jack, which has been hit by the cancellation of its fund-raising events due to the pandemic.

Many members of the running community have previously taken part in Run Wigan Festival and the Wigan 10k - both of which are now being held virtually - and Alex Johnson, who founded Joining Jack with her husband Andy - runs with the group.

So far 30 people have signed up to take part and it is hoped more will register, with extra medals being ordered to meet the demand.

The challenge will take place between Sundays August 16 and 30, giving people of all abilities time to cover the distance.

Jodie said: “We have had a lot of new runners join us and we wanted to push them out of their comfort zone, but make sure they could do it. “They can do a little bit every day or do four or five longer runs.

“We can run in small groups now as well, which is great.”

Registration for the challenge costs £10, with a medal provided on completion, or £15 for a medal and T-shirt.

To sign up or find out more, search for Wigan and Leigh Running Community on Facebook.