Jay Elphick has completed a mind-blowing challenge: two marathons and a run of 380 kilometres between them.

Jay is 32 now, and a surveyor in Manchester, but he was brought up in Barrow and I’m sure many of his old school friends will recognise the name. As a child and teenager, he used to play football for Barrow Town, so was a sporty kid, but only began to run marathons in 2023 when he took part in the London Marathon. Then other runs followed, such as the Great North Run and the Belfast marathon.

However, this year he really pushed himself. He not only ran the Brighton Marathon on April 12th and the Manchester Marathon on April 19th but connected the two by running between both cities to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Research. What a challenge! Although the marathons were officially organised and stewarded, the route between them was Jay’s unregulated own so far more unpredictable. This is how he did it: April 12th the Brighton Marathon; April 13th Brighton to Chessington (Surrey); 14th Chessington to Edlesborough (near Luton); 15th Edlesborough to Daventry; 16th Daventry to Ashby de la Zouch; 17th Ashby de la Zouch to Bakewell; 18th Bakewell to Manchester Old Trafford; April 19th the Manchester Marathon - then two days off work to recover!

Jay averaged 61 kilometres a day starting between 7am and 8 am and finishing between 4pm and 5pm. He was very fortunate in having a really good bunch of friends who joined him on the route, so he rarely ran alone. One of these friends was the Barrow postie Leo Coggins. Jay’s dad was extremely helpful too as he drove the family caravan, filled with food and drink (healthy of course), to provide Jay’s nightly accommodation. In total Jay ran 452 kilometres in eight days.

And was the effort and exhaustion worth it? Most definitely, as to date Jay has already raised £9,500 which is far more than he anticipated. He thought he’d have done well if he hit the £2,000 mark. Jay knows prostate cancer needs much more research as his father was diagnosed with this form of cancer several years ago. He’d love to help future men know that if the disease struck there was a cure. It was a good run and a labour of love.

If you would like to contribute to Jay’s fundraising, go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/brighton-marathon-2026-967347

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Gaynor Barton