SPORTS enthusiast Josh McCrow is taking his mind off his final year at university by doing a double marathon challenge.

A former student at Woking College, 20-year-old Josh lives on the Barnsbury Estate in Woking and is currently in the final year of his sports management graduate course at Coventry. However, though he enjoys taking part in a wide range of sports, especially football and mixed martial arts, he has never run a marathon.

He will be running a total of over 85 kilometres or 52 miles around Woking Park over 48 hours from the 12th to 13th March, Josh’s run is inspired by David Goggins, an American ultramarathon runner and athlete who first completed the 4X4X48 challenge in 2020. Now a social media phenomenon, the challenge officially starts today, 4 March. It involves Josh running four miles (6.5km) every four hours for 48 hours.

“I’ve been training for three months, five or seven days a week, varying from 6.5 to 13 kilometres a day and I feel very prepared and confident I'll be able to complete,” says Josh.

Josh has decided to put his effort towards a good cause and has decided to raise money through the challenge by supporting The Children's Trust, a charity for children with brain injuries, that offers rehabilitation, education and community services for the children and young people and their families.

“I didn’t want to put a cap on the amount on fundraising because I want to raise as much money as I can to help the charity,” says Josh, who has already collected more than £500 on his GoFundMe page.

He intends to keep himself going by eating high energy snacks and drinking plenty of water and electrolytes. Should he need anything more to occupy his mind during the challenge as it is taking place while he’ll be working on his final dissertation.