Kiladangan's Ben Banaghan has defied logic in successfully running from the northernmost part of Scotland to the southernmost tip of England, and he did it in only 19 days.
The Tipperary man ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for the duration of the venture, aiming to raise money and awareness for two fantastic charities, Mental Health UK and a Roscommon charity, ‘Join Our Boys’.
The Join Our Boys Trust was founded in 2014 after three brothers - Archie and twin brothers George and Isaac - were all diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), for which there currently is no treatment or cure.
Speaking to Beat Sport, Ben emphasized just how important the fund is to him.
"When I started training for the run, I went back to Ireland to spend a bit of time and to raise awareness for DMD with the trust and with the family", he said.
"I was very, very lucky to meet Archie but unfortunately since then, he passed away to the condition.
"There is a really big push, and emphasis, trying to get donations in and try and find a cure, or else try and find some sort of treatment that will slow down the condition."
The 25-year-old completed the awe-inspiring run on September 25, amassing a total of 1,350 kilometres.
While many difficult moments had him doubting himself, they were trumped by joyous memories, with one standing out in particular.
"The most memorable moment was when I had Paula, the mother of the boys - herself, Sinead and their documentary man who is trying to record all of the struggles that they are going through, they all came over and surprised me.
"I'll never forget it, where they surprised me was halfway over the bridge, over the river seven, as I was going from Wales back into England.
"That was quite a good surprise as I was on the back end of the trip."
He added "I had a support team with me and it's hard to put into words what we did because it felt like Groundhog Day.
"But when you look back, and we talk about the different things that happened on the daily, yeah, it was amazing!"
Ben is no stranger to astonishing feats of endurance, having previously run the length of Ireland, from Mizen Head in Cork to Malin Head in Donegal in just seven days.
He then raised over €55,000 for Mental Health Ireland and for Templederry woman, Alannah Sheehan, who had been recently diagnosed at the time with GBM.
Ben's astonishing race may be in the history books, but the battle to defeat DMD is still ongoing.
You can donate to this fantastic cause by visiting www.joinourboys.org, or through this link, and giving what you can.
Every donation is welcome and anything you can donate will be tripled by the runner's employer, UK-based ISG.
