Ben Cook, 30, from West Moor is to take on the ultimate running challenge as he runs the entire route of the Tyne and Wear Metro over two days. He will run 63 miles over the August Bank Holiday weekend as preparation for a 100 mile ultra marathon he’s due to take part in during September.
Over the weekend he will be covering all 63 route miles of the Metro, taking in the fastest routes from station to station via public roads and footpaths. On the first day he will be running a mere 27 miles as he runs the green line from South Hylton to Newcastle Airport and then on day two he’ll be tackling the yellow line from South Shields to St James via the North Tyneside Coast, a total of 36 miles.
Ben said: “I’m really excited about this Metro running challenge. It’s 63 miles along the network route and I’m expecting it to be tough as it’s two days of back to back running. I’ll be running both of the Metro’s yellow and green lines, following along the same routes as the Metro network map. It’s a lot further than it looks.
“A friend of mine in London is doing a similar challenge running the length of all eleven Tube lines, and it made me think about doing something along the lines of the Metro. I’d never heard of anyone do that here before, so I thought that I’d give it a go. It’s going to be really good preparation for my next ultra marathon. The big test will day two of the run when it’s the 36 miles from South Shields to Newcastle via North Tyneside. I’ll be sore after the Saturday and will need to grit my teeth in order to get started again the next day.”
Ben runs at club levels for Heaton Harriers and is completing the run in support of The Running Charity which helps 16-25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. You can donate through JustGiving at https://www.justgiving.com/page/metrothon.
Nexus’ Head of Station Delivery, Lynne Dickinson, said: “This is a fantastic fundraising challenge that Ben is undertaking along our Metro lines. We all wish him well with it. It will raise vital funds to help homeless young people. To run the whole length of our yellow and green lines over two consecutive days is a huge test of fitness and endurance.
“He’ll be covering 36 miles running between South Shields and St James, which takes in all of the North Tyne loop. The green line from South Hylton to Airport is going to be distance of 27 miles. All of the runs are taking place on the quickest routes adjacent to our lines, so none of it will actually be taking place on the actual tracks themselves.”
The cynics among you may suggest that this would be the best way to get around the Metro network considering the recent reliability issues…