Meet the Bristol man running a marathon for every month of the year to raise money for the city's largest rescue centre
A Bristol man has run a marathon every month of the year and will do so until December to raise money for Bristol Animal Rescue Centre (BARC). Phil Hobbins-White only ran his first marathon in November 2023 but "loves a challenge" and is raising money for the important work the charity do for Bristol's animals.
Phil has taken part in a mixture of official races as well as running official routes on different dates. So far Phil has raised £1,479 out of his £2,000 target.
"Having my own rescue dogs made my choice of charity a fairly easy decision, although I didn't get my dogs from BARC," said Phil.
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"I just assume there are so many other animals out there who are in need, like my dogs were before they got adopted, that although I'm not directly raising money for my own dogs, I'm raising money for animals who were in the same position they were a few years ago.
"Everyone has been so supportive, with some donating every month, and others promising to donate at the end of the year. So many people have been very generous with their donations - whether that's people at my various run clubs, family, friends, runners at park runs, and strangers on the internet!"
Remarkably, Phil only ran one marathon before deciding that he would run 12 this year and says he loves a challenge. In fact, four of the 12 marathons he is running are 'ultra-marathons', which are runs longer than the traditional 26.2 miles.
"I only started running about three years as way to socialise when I moved to Bristol. I found that I quite enjoyed it and started running slightly longer distances but it was until the end of 2023 that I ran my first ever marathon," said Phil.
BARC recently revealed that they are wrestling with huge energy bills, with monthly water bills costing £450 a month. They also noted that whilst supporters are doing everything they can to show their support, the cost-of-living crisis has led to a significant decline in donations.
"Not only have charities' energy bills gone up, but also the higher cost of living has meant that the typical person has needed to tighten their purse strings, so donations to charities have dropped as a result," said Phil.
You can visit Phil's fundraiser page and donate here.