Henfield brothers run seven marathons in a week

Will and Tom Lees – who have so far raised £2,800 for WaterAid to provide people in developing countries with clean water – set off on April 8 from the source of the River Thames, at Kemble, ahead of their mission to run the length of river.

Despite injuries, illnesses, poor weather and multiple setbacks they completed their journey to the Thames barrier, in London, on Saturday, April 14.

After the challenge, Will – who works for Wessex Water – said: “It was a really difficult undertaking and not what we had initially expected.

“The actual Thames path was heavily waterlogged in a lot of places due to the heavy rainfall in the preceeding weeks. This made it very difficult to run through and led to knee and foot injuries.

“Running for six hours plus a day in wet and muddy shoes (and even muddy shorts from wading in some parts) did not make for enjoyable exercise. Once we arrived in London on the last day the weather had moved to summer sunshine but as we were in toilet costumes on a sunny Saturday on the south bank this brought its own challenges. Running 184 miles over seven days is tough enough without all of the setbacks.”

Will and Tom were also supported by Will’s girlfriend Rebecca Tedford who ran part of the journey to provide a morale boost to the brothers as injuries starting to hamper their progress.

She added: “I initially undertook the challenge as the support crew-driver, publicist, fundraiser, chef and re-hab support. But due to injuries to the boys I ended up partaking in the running so as to ensure we completed the miles we set out to do and to provide some physical morale boost.

“I hadn’t actually ran since my last marathon in November but the need to complete the challenge spurred us all on.

“I became passionate about it because of the people who suffer daily without water or sanitation. In our country we can’t really understand having no clean water but it affects so many people. One day WaterAid want everyone to have access to clean water and sanitation and that’s why we support them. We talk a lot about rights in this country but true human rights are things such as access to clean water to drink and we should not rest until that is something everyone can have.”

To donate to the fundraiser, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/will-lees1.