Nik takes the Stockholm Marathon challenge and raises £500 for St Luke’s

Civil servant Nik decided he wanted to take up the tough running challenge in memory of grandad Brian Hartley, who was a St Luke’s patient.

“I have always been really appreciative of what St Luke’s did for my grandfather so running for St Luke’s seemed like the right choice to make,” he said.

“I feel like the service that St Luke’s offers should always be available to anybody who needs it.”

Having failed to get a place in the London Marathon, though, Nik then went online to explore what other events were coming up – and that’s when he found the Stockholm challenge.

“It felt like a real adventure to go somewhere different and I wanted to run somewhere with loads of crowds and a big atmosphere, plus I’ve always had a fascination with Scandinavia so this seemed like a good excuse to go there,” he said.

“It was an amazing experience and even though it’s the hardest thing I have ever done, you get such a buzz from it – it was almost like a party!”

In fact, Nik was so pleased with the result – finishing in less than five hours and raising a fantastic £510 for St Luke’s - that he’s now signed up for his second challenge, joining the start line of the York Marathon in October.

“I think the one thing I didn’t anticipate was how I would feel after the marathon,” Nik said.

“My life in the past few months has been all running, with all the preparation and training, and when I’d finished I did panic when I thought there was nothing to work towards and I worried that all the fitness would drop off a cliff.

“So now I have a reason to keep the momentum going and I’ll be back in training very soon.”