Raising funds and breaking records

Tom and dad Gavin at John O’Groats

Hi Tom, can you tell us about yourself and the challenge you’re taking on for Born Free?

I’m Tom, I go to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) in Penrith, and I’m 15. I’ve set myself the challenge to travel from John O’Groats to Land’s End (JogLE) in 24 days during August, alternating running and cycling for 5km stretches, in relay with my dad. I’m also attempting to break the Guinness World Record for fastest duathlon for an under 18 to complete this route.

Have you done much training for this challenge?

In February half term, we travelled to the North East of England and trained for four full days in preparation. Then throughout May, dad and I both ran 5km each morning at 6.00am. It was quite a lot colder then than it is now in August, so that might be tricky, but we’re taking any challenges as they come.

What made you decide to attempt the World Record?

My dad and I try and do something every two years to raise money for Born Free. I started doing this when I was eight years old, and the last challenge (in 2022) was hiking to Everest Base Camp, which had been delayed by Covid. When we were finally able to go, flights were still disrupted, so as we were coming down from Everest Base Camp, we decided to do something that was in the UK next time – and this was the biggest thing (that we hadn’t already done) we could think of in the UK!

Why are you so passionate about supporting Born Free?

When I was younger I liked tigers a lot, so that originally got me into the charity. When I started to fundraise through my challenges, Born Free were so supportive – I even got a personalised message from Virginia McKenna! It really made me feel involved. My other chosen charity, Eden Valley Hospice, do really good work in my area, so I thought it would be good to try and get them some exposure too.

Why do you think it’s so important to protect wild animals and the environment?

It’s important to protect wildlife and the environment because they’ve been here for a lot longer than we have!  Born Free helps keep wildlife safe by educating people, and campaigning for greater protections. Helping iconic species like lions helps all the other animals that live in their ecosystems, and I think it’s important to try and preserve them for as long as we can, because we’ve come along and messed it up a lot. I think it’s important to try to reverse the negative impact people have had.

How did you feel on the day you started your challenge?

I felt really prepared because of the training that we did, and just excited to start!

How can people support your challenge?

People can support us by sharing our social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and X, to get us more exposure. If people feel like they could donate, they can find us on JustGiving and that would be even better! But there’s no pressure to do that – just sharing our posts would be really good!

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