MP welcomes marathon man Ben

Ben Smith, who’s running 401 marathons on consecutive days for anti-bullying charities, was welcomed on his return to Macclesfield by local Member of Parliament, David Rutley, and members of ten local schools, for the 224^th leg of his incredible challenge.

The 33 year old, who is running in support of Stonewall and Kidscape, respectively, was making his second and final visit to Macclesfield during the 401 Challenge, having previously held the 133^rd leg of the challenge in the town, in January.

Ben started the Challenge in September 2015, and is set to finish the mammoth run on 5^th October, in his home city of Bristol. Once completed, Ben will have run an incredible 10,426 miles – the equivalent of running from Land’s End to John O’Groats almost twelve times. This would create a new world record for the number of consecutive marathons completed. Ben is hoping to raise £250,000 upon the completion of the marathons, and so far he has raised over £50,000.

Representatives of eight local primary schools, as well as Fallibroome Academy and Wilmslow High School joined Ben at the start, at Macclesfield Athletics Track, to help to promote his anti-bullying message.

Speaking at the start of Marathon number 224 in Macclesfield, David said, “It was a pleasure to welcome Ben back to Macclesfield, and find out about the incredible progress he has made with his challenge since his first run in the town, back in January. It was also really good to see so many local schools supporting him, and raising awareness for the positive anti-bullying message which the challenge is all about. I wish him continued success with the remainder of his incredible challenge.”

For more information about the 401 Challenge and how to donate, visit www.the401challenge.co.uk. You can also follow Ben’s progress on Twitter, by following him at @the401challenge, or by using the hashtag #runwithben.