This year, Stephen Elkan is stretching his body to the limit by taking on two marathons before tackling the epic 100km Race to The Kings (RTK) challenge.

In total, he’ll be taking on over 220km of running with the aim of raising £1,000 for Cure Leukaemia, after tragically losing his best friend and his mum to leukaemia.

“I’m fundraising for Cure Leukaemia as this is close to my heart. My best friend passed away when he was 20 (37 years ago) and my mum passed away from this terrible disease (11 years ago) and I have been raising money for different leukaemia charities over the years.

I want to take on this tough challenge even though I know it will hurt both mentally and physically for all the people out there who have been diagnosed with leukaemia and are going through treatment now.

When the run gets hard and hurts I will be using the memory of Mark and my mum to inspire me to continue with the training and to finish the two marathons and RTK.”

He successfully completed the Brighton Marathon earlier this month with the Milton Keynes Marathon next on his radar on Bank Holiday Monday (1st May).

“In my mind, I have been treating the Brighton and Milton Keynes Marathons as long training runs ahead of the Kings..

“In the build up to the Kings, I have got two longer runs planned over the course of the next few weeks which will be good preparation – one will be 32 miles and then 40 miles.”

“I loved the Brighton Marathon earlier this month. It was a great atmosphere across the sea front alongside 12,000 other runners with people lining the streets.” 

He will be hoping to draw upon previous experience of the event having completed the 50km version of the race a few years ago.

He started training in November 2022, and will be hoping to complete the Race to the Kings 100km run in between 12-14 hours.

“I have been running for many years and now making the step up to ultra running distances. I have raised a lot of money over the years in running marathons and want to continue this as long as I can.”

“The RTK is going to be a big step up from what I’ve done in the past and I’m looking forward to the new challenges this will bring.”

“I’m feeling very excited about this new challenge and also apprehensive. I know that a good level of training is going to be needed and a lot of luck in not picking up any injuries over the next 20 weeks.”

 

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