Two Edinburgh friends are running a twelve day marathon for charity

TWO friends from Edinburgh are running over three hundred miles for a cancer charity.

Toby Gray, 18 and Charlie Brett 22, who have been friends for years, are in the process of a running challenge from Torrisdale to Edinburgh, covering a grand total of 314.4 miles.

The duo is calling themselves the Tartaneers and are bidding to raise at least £30k for charities Make2ndsCount and Marie Curie which offers support to families hit by cancer.

Make2ndsCount is based in Edinburgh, aims to raise awareness and fund medical research that will contribute to increasing patients’ quality of life.

Marie Curie is the country’s leading end of life charity which provides frontline nursing anf hospice care along with other support services.

The two men mapped out the route themselves ad split the miles into twelve-day marathons, taking in Inverness, Aviemore and Perth, they are just four marathons away from arriving in Edinburgh on June 25.

Toby said: “This challenge is incredibly tough, but we are within the closing stages now.

“It’s in memory of all our loved ones who have been taken by cancer and for families everywhere whose lives have been impacted by cancer.”

Charlie said: “We’ve discovered a new-found passion to push ourselves beyond the limits for a cause bigger than ourselves.

“Neither of us had even run a half marathon before we did this, let alone a full one. As rugby players we are using completely different muscles!”

Toby and Charlie are not new to fund raising, in June last year, they completed a 24-hour challenge comprising a 2kn row, 3km run and 10km cycle, totalling to 360km (223 miles), they managed to raise £24,000 for cancer research.

Toby added: “We have a mindset of pushing ourselves and never settling.

“We’re both drawing strength from the lessons we learned on the rugby pitch. We felt we could either sit around and do nothing during the lockdown last year, or get involved in something we could be proud of. We were delighted with what we managed to raise last year for Cancer Research, so this current challenge is taking it all a step further.”

“We’ve definitely improved our skills in mapping too!”

Emotional and practical support has been given to the Tartaneers in their challenge by a team of eight family members and helpers who are following them in vehicles and bikes.