Burger Run Ultra - April 2025 - "I did a thing!"
Clarkson actually saved my life
Date: Saturday 12th April 2025
Start: Oxford Station
Finish: Diddly Squat Farm Shop
Full route below
Time: Starting at 08:30
Supporting: ChemoHero and MacMillan
Last year I designed and ran the 50K Doughnut Run London, so my mind was ticking away about what I could do this year. I was watching Clarkson's Farm when it struck me, I love the look of the burger they serve there so let's go run and earn the calories, devouring one upon arrival.
Clarkson (Hammond & May) also saved my life in 2021 so I have a personal attachment to everything they do. Read more about that below.
Why am I doing it? In 2021 I had testicular cancer, after an operation and chemotherapy I returned to the running shoes with a goal to help others. Now I design and take on my own running challenges and with your support I will raise vital funds for cancer charities.
Donate please click on the link below and donate anything you can to help ChemoHero and MacMillan to continue their incredible work they both do.
Thank you
The Run
Start:
Oxford Railway station
Finish:
Diddly Squat Farm shop. Visiting The Farmers Dog and the Hawk Stone along the way.
Distance:
54K
Live Tracking:
I will be wearing a GPS tracker on the day and the map will be updated live.
Live Tracking Link
https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/the-burger-run-2025/
Run Type
Solo run, self-designed route.
Can you join me?
Yes. This isn't an organised event, it is a self-designed run and one of my charity fundraisers I take on after my own recovery from testicular cancer. To the right is the QR code for the Komoot route and the link is also below. If you are anywhere along the route come and say hi, or run for a mile or two with me, or perhaps join me at The Farmers Dog or Diddly Squat.
Komoot Route
Clarkson saved my life
as did Hammond and May
It was 2021, I was watching an episode of The Grand Tour, Episode 11 of Season 3 'Sea to Unsalty Sea' where they are trying to see if their lap time would be improved because they were desperate for a pee.
They each drank 3 pints of water, larking about and discussing the need to pee during the night, something that happens to all us chaps at some point in our lives, This got me thinking about prostate cancer and in turn about testicular cancer as it's in a similar area of the body.
I was 48, had never checked my balls and thought I really should at some point. Not long after watching the episode I'd come back from a summer evenings run, was in the shower and decided to check. That kickstarted a chain of events ending in an operation to remove one of my balls and chemotherapy.
My cancer had spread a little outside of the balls, and I was told that if I had not checked when I did then the cancer was have undoubtably spread more and it would have been a whole lot more serious. I would have been very, very unwell indeed.
I will never be able to thank Clarkson, Hammond and May enough for saving my life that day, as I know without watching that programme I would not have checked myself.
My vision is to pay this forward, through my running I will create awareness of the importance of regular checking for the signs of cancer. I would never have checked if it wasn't for Clarkson, Hammond & May, and perhaps you would not have checked unless you'd seen this page about my run. Pay it forward.
Expect to see me tear up as I reach the end of my run at Diddly Squat.
Awareness and Support
On my Burger Run and the other 2025 Ultras I will be carrying the names of those whose lives have been touched by cancer
Those in remission | Receiving treatment| and those we remember
All names will be printed and proudly displayed on my running pack, you can see in the picture an example of this when I ran London2Brighton 100K last year.
I do this for two reasons.
Awareness
it sparks conversation and thought by those who see it, I've spoken to many people who have gone on to check themselves for the signs of cancer or to research a little more becoming self-aware. Early detection of cancer is vital.
Support
we are stronger together, carrying the names shows the support for one another who have or are currently travelling the cancer journey. The names give me strength and I promise each that together we will go on this journey and I'll get us all to the end.
You can put a name forward to be including, just click on the button below and send me a message. I would be honoured to carry the name you put forward.
The cancer charities I am supporting
CHEMOHERO
Provide boxes of kindness to cancer patients at their first chemotherapy treatment. The charity was setup by Lisa Wallis whilst she was going through breast cancer treatment, Lisa lived with cancer for 9 years before sadly passing away in 2021 leaving behind her husband and young family.
The boxes are incredibly emotional to receive and are given at a time when you are often feeling vulnerable and alone. They contain many useful and thoughtful items.
website: https://www.chemohero.org
MacMillan Cancer Support
Because cancer affects your life in so many ways, we do whatever it takes to give people the support they need.
That one sentence taken from the Macmillan website says exactly why I have chosen to support them in 2025. Cancer changes your life in so many ways. For me it gave me a renewed focus on the road ahead with my running but it is also something I think about everyday, the questions of what if it returns and when will it return are never far away.
website: https://www.macmillan.org.uk
My fundraising page is live and can be accessed via the link below - your support means so much to me and the people that will directly benefit .
Thank you.