A recruitment consultant from Cambridge has signed up for a challenge described as being ‘harder than marine training’ to raise money for the charity Delete Blood Cancer UK.

Mark Wishart, from Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure), will be taking part in the Midnight Mountain Marathon, run by Brutal Events, on 25 June. He will be running a half marathon in the steep, mountainous terrain of the Brecon Beacons. The runners begin the endurance event at 5.30pm and only have until midnight to complete the course.

Having previously completed events such as the London Marathon and the Great North Run, Mark was looking for something which would really stretch him and help him to support a charity which is extremely close to his heart.

Mark said: “My father-in-law has been diagnosed with blood cancer and I’ve seen first-hand how this condition has affected a great man and an excellent grandfather to my children. It was extremely important to me to find a challenge which would help me to raise as much money as possible for the charity which is increasing awareness of how people can become stem cell donors and potentially save the life of someone with a blood cancer.

“The Brutal Midnight Marathon immediately stood out. For a start, I’m actually scared of heights, so that alone will be a big challenge for me! The setting makes it different to the usual road race and doing it in the evening, with a specific deadline to finish, adds another difficult element. It’s also been described as harder than marine training. You can’t really ask for much more of a challenge than that.”

The prospect of tackling this extreme 13.1-mile race has become even more daunting because Mark has been suffering from an Achilles injury since the start of this year. This has made training for the event extremely difficult, but Mark is determined to go ahead non the less.

Mark added: “I’ve been at the point where I couldn’t even walk a 100 yards without it hurting so intensive training has been out of the question. I’ve been trying to rest it and do other things to keep my strength up instead. With help from the Sports Injury Clinic in Fordham I’m hopefully on the mend and I’m going ahead with this whatever happens. I’m hoping the beautiful scenery will be more inspiring than a usual road race and will help to keep me going.”

Mark will be taking on the challenge with his friend Jane Petrucci, who will also be able to help encourage and motivate him to complete the course and raise as much as possible for an extremely worthy cause.

Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. A blood stem cell donation from a matching donor could save their lives. Delete Blood Cancer UK is committed to increasing the number of potential stem cell donors in the UK, so that there is a donor for everyone who needs one. All it takes to go on the UK stem cell register is a two-minute cheek swab, sent to you when you register online at www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk

To sponsor Mark, and help him to raise money to support the charity’s important work, visit his Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Wishart3