Cancer Research Wales

Two fundraisers have completed an impressive three marathons over three continents in just 33 hours on their 3on3in33 challenge.

Stuart Kershaw 32, who is based in Aberystwyth, and New Yorker Chris Cuddihy 59, recently completed a remarkable triple marathon challenge to raise money for Cancer Research Wales, a cause close to both of their hearts.

Stuart said: “Cancer Research Wales is such a worthwhile charity; so many people are affected by cancer and anything we can do to help fund the charity’s research will be an honour.

“Although I am originally from Liverpool, I have spent a lot of my adult life in Wales where I attended Aberystwyth University and have now set up my business in the area. The fact that all the money raised will be spent in Wales is very important and means a lot to me”

The super fit duo set out to finish what they started four years ago, when they attempted to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, as part of a world record attempt, unfortunately Stuart contracted salmonella and was unable to finish the challenge.

Stuart and Chris are no strangers to fundraising events and between them they have an impressive list of charity accomplishments. In 2007 Stuart completed a transatlantic world record rowing challenge and both of the running enthusiasts have completed an extraordinary amount of marathons.

Their epic triple marathon journey started on the African continent in Cairo, then across to the Asian continent in Istanbul and their last marathon finally finished on the European continent in Athens – all completed in under 30 hours.

Stuart said: “We only had five weeks to prepare for this challenge but luckily we are both quite experienced endurance athletes, our training included everything from weekly 50 mile runs to yoga, we even bathed in salt water and surgical alcohol to toughen our skin!

“It was an extremely hard challenge and at certain points I thought we weren’t going to make it through all of the marathons. Unfortunately Chris took a fall in Cairo which slowed him down and resulted in us missing our flight to Istanbul, instead we re-routed via Alexandria.

“Although this lost us a total of eight hours, we were put our back up plan into action as soon as we arrived in Istanbul, and ran both the remaining Asian and European legs on either side of the Bosphorus River – the demarcation point between the two continents.

“There were definitely some tense moments, I even ended up running back to the airport along the hard shoulder of the motorway and arrived with only 20 minutes until the check-in for our flight to Athens closed.

“Again, unfortunately Chris was overwhelmed by the injury he picked up in Cairo, he then opted out of the marathons in Istanbul and instead ran half marathons.

“I managed to run the Cairo leg in 4.20, the Asian leg in 5.20 and finally the European leg in 4.40 giving a total running time of 14hours and 20minutes. The whole challenge was completed in under the 30 hours.”

The money raised in the 3on3in33 challenge will go towards supporting pioneering research into cancer in Wales, including new cancer treatments for patients in Welsh hospitals.

Laura Hooper, Fundraising Manager for Cancer Research Wales, said:

“We would like to congratulate Stuart and Chris on their fantastic achievement in this extraordinary challenge. The amount they have raised is phenomenal and it is a fantastic contribution to the Cancer Research Wales funds.”

The pair’s fundraising target is £3,000, to show your support and make a donation visit: https://www.justgiving.com/3on3in33