Brendan Rendall is running every day until August to raise money to help save Chester Zoo.
Starting from June 4th, Brendan will be running a half marathon every single day of the month, before upping this to an inspiring full marathon a day for the whole of July.
And for a big finish, Brendan will then be running the 35 miles from Salford Quays to Chester Zoo on August 1st AND he’ll be doing it in fancy dress!
We had a chat with him to find out exactly why he’s decided to do this huge feat for a great cause.
Brendan has been running for a few years now, running the length of Malawi – which is 708 miles – in just 27 days back in 2016.
His love for running started off as a bet to run the Wilmslow Half Marathon in 2006. Prior to this challenge, Brendan had never run before, and instead ‘spent 10 years on the Manchester club scene’.
He began by running in the dark before work so no one could see, and he would run from lamppost to lamppost.
Since that time Brendan has improved massively, running the 2,474-mile width of the entire continent of Africa, from Coast to Coast in 2018.
These are just a few of the challenges Brendan has set himself over the years, continually pushing himself, his mind and body, out of his comfort zone. In doing this, he realised that ‘we are all capable of so much more physically and mentally’ than we think.
While completing his PGCE teacher training course at 37, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. He says that running and the challenges he sets are to keep him concentrated and from getting bored.
During the lockdown, Brendan has been looking for inspiration for a challenge and then Chester Zoo put out the call to ‘Save Our Zoo’.
As a teacher, he explains that Chester Zoo is an incredibly useful educational tool for children and, like many of us, he spent many a time visiting as a kid.
Brendan will be documenting the whole process on his social media channels, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
He’s asking for people to give whatever they can to help save Chester Zoo, via his JustGiving page here, which has already raised £260 of the £10,000 target.
I asked Brendan for tips that he’d give to someone wanting to get into running, as his story of going from running in the dark to running and documenting his journey across continents is inspiring.
He said: “I never thought completing that first half marathon would lead on to me running Coast to Coast of Africa 2,474 miles in 2018.”
He continued: “It’s important to give whatever you do your 100%, don’t compare yourself to others and be the best you can be – I can’t recommend running enough.”
