Wigan dad to complete ultramarathon for good cause

Graham Berry is a runner and keen fundraiser for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA). Graham lives in Shrewsbury with his wife and family and is originally from Wigan, a life-long Wigan warriors rugby league fan.

He has dedicated the past four and a half years to raising vital funds and awareness for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Following the rugby league player Rob Burrow being diagnosed with MND in December 2019, Graham decided to put his best foot forward running all kinds of events and distances for the Association including the 2022 London Marathon and the Rob Burrow Leeds marathon in 2023 and 2024 where he ran personal bests twice, despite the very hilly course.

Last year, Graham ran an event he entitled the Trans-Pennine Ultra from Wigan to Leeds, starting at the DW Stadium, the home of his beloved Wigan Warriors at 6am on 7th September and arriving at Headingley at 8pm on 8th September, having stayed over night in east Lancashire.

Always wanting to re-invent the wheel, to come up with something new and keep the momentum going in the hope of one day finding a cure for MND, he’s at it again on 13th September this year, the day that Wigan host Leeds at the now-named Brick Community Stadium previously the DW Stadium) and this time he has come up with the Warriors Ultra.

Last year’s challenge was extremely physical, Graham ran a total of 150 kilometres over the two days along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal with it’s beautiful scenery and various towns including Chorley, Blackburn, Burnley, Keighley and Bradford but this year’s ultramarathon will be both physically demanding and no doubt psychologically mind-numbing too as he will spend twelve hours on 13th September this year running round and round the outside of The Brick Community Stadium from 6.30am to 6.30 pm with no idyllic scenery to look at, just the concrete of the stadium and tarmac of it’s outer-perimeter.

At it’s widest, the path that Graham will be using forms a loop of 690 metres which he hopes to complete more than 105 times during his allotted time, giving him a total of 70 kilometres or even more if his mind and body can withstand it, the only relief for which might be a change of direction around the ground.

Graham, who was born and raised in Wigan and now lives in Shrewsbury is a former amateur rugby league front-row who says he wasn’t built for running and will be joined at various times during the day by friends who want to run a few laps with him and as always, his support crew will be his dedicated wife Amanda who will be on hand with food and drink, changes of clothes and moral support but her task this year will be relatively straight forward, apart from also spending a monotonous 12 hours in the car park of Wigan’s adjacent training facility and offices at Robin Park rather than having to trace the canal between Lancashire and Yorkshire and find rendezvous points every five miles as she did last September. Not being a native of the north, this was a difficult task.

This year’s run is going to be an emotional one of course. The Warriors Ultra has been in the planning since March and is being backed by the Wigan Warriors and when Graham ran the Leeds Rob Burrow Marathon on 12th May this year, little did any of us know that his inspiration, Rob would sadly pass away a few weeks later but Rob leaves a legacy that spurs Graham on, having certainly left his mark on the disease along with his great friend Kevin Sinfield who Graham also draws motivation from having seen his super-human efforts for MND charities over the past few years. He is also hoping to be joined by a multiple world record holding ultra-runner Nick Butter, author of the book Run Britain. Nick holds the record for the fastest lap of the British mainland on foot of 128 days which his book recounts in detail. Other famous sports personalities are being invited to come and run on the day also.

So far through running and various other campaigns such as the annual Rugby League Jersey Day, Graham has raised over £15,000 for the MND Association but is desperate to hit £17,777 by the day of his next event, honouring Rob’s number 7 jersey which has become synonymous with MND awareness and fundraising campaigns.

Anyone wishing to support Graham by donating to the MND Association can use the following link:-

justgiving.com/fundraising/robburrow7 or go to justgiving.com and search for Graham Berry.

No finish line until there’s a cure!