Runner ready for epic challenge

Fearless David Older from Rugeley is planning to complete an epic challenge by running thousands of miles across Europe to raise £600,000 for Cancer Research UK.

The 24-year-old has already cycled across Vietnam, jogged across the Sahara desert and climbed up the side of the Grand Canyon in America but now has his sights set on running from Aberystwyth to Athens.

He dreamed up the adventure as a way of raising money for charity after his grandmother and his best friend's mother both died from cancer. His aunt is currently being treated for breast, lung and bone cancer.

Mr Older, originally from Draycott park, now lives in Aberystwyth, where he works as a nutritionist and personal trainer. He plans to run from his home in Aberystwyth to the Greek capital in just 153 days, by running 30 miles every day.

His mammoth trip will take in France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Greece. He will leave on June 1 next year and arrive in Athens before the end of October, with a target of raising £600,000. His previous efforts have already helped raise £80,000.

Mr Older left Rugeley at the age of 17 to join the Army and he went on to become a physical trainer and weapons expert in the Army Air Corps, based at Watisham Air Base, near Ipswich. He left the Army in 2006. He began running at an early age and runs 12 miles a day. He completed the London Marathon in 2003 in three hours and 46 minutes.

Ahead of the challenge he is putting in hours of training which has already seen him involved in six accidents with cars.

He has even been knocked over by a van while crossing a road and suffered severe internal bruising and a cracked hip.

He said: "People reckon I'm crazy but I will prove them wrong. Running across Europe has been a dream of mine for many years. Now I want to do it to raise money for Cancer Research. The charity is very close to my heart and I know that will be my inspiration."

To sponsor David contact him at www.marathon forlife@live.com