In January 2010 thousands of men and women will take up running for the first time.  Thousands more will set themselves new running challenges - their first 10k, half marathon or marathon.  A select few will set themselves crazy running challenges.

Richard Kell from Letchworth is one of those people.

His mission?  To run 7 marathons in a 12 month period, covering the length and breadth of the UK – from Cheltenham to the Highlands of Scotland, from Snowdonia to Belfast, from Essex to the Isle of Man.

His motivation? To raise in excess of  £1 million by the end of 2010 in support of Help for Heroes, a charity set up to help the wounded Servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Richard’s story…

Richard is not an athlete or a sportsperson.  In fact, what makes his story so unique is that Richard isn’t even a serious runner!  He started jogging last year – in the name of keeping fit – and then decided to challenge himself and train for a Marathon.  His initial challenge of committing to run a Marathon then grew seven fold, choosing unsung marathons to raise money for our unsung heroes.

As a banker from Letchworth, Richard is also keen to prove that they’re not all bad on footballer style salaries!

I will be highlighting, that despite all the negativity surrounding banking at present, there are plenty of us who are ordinary guys on normal salaries who want to make a positive difference to our country.

Richard kicked things off by running the Letchworth 10k run dressed as a ‘city banker’ and then ran the Brentwood marathon at the end of October.  He will also be undertaking a series of military themed challenges to test his endurance and fear of heights to the limit! He will be abseiling from a military helicopter, completing elements of the commando test (including a 30 mile endurance run) and jumping out of a plane.

Why Help For Heroes?…

Help for Heroes was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry in October 2007 out of a desire to help the wounded Servicemen and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. As we’re hearing only too regularly, more and more are returning with life-changing injuries, so Richard is keen to do his bit to help them get better, and so can you…

Sponsor Richard -  Just Giving

Follow Richard – www.twitter.com/MidasMarathon