Amazing dad raises £700 running a mile a day for 100 days for Alzheimer’s charity

Chris Knight, 44, came up with the challenge after wanting to support his dad, Phil Knight, 70, who was raising money for the UK-based dementia research charity, Alzheimer's Society.

Mr Knight, an IT engineer, from Todwick, said: “I wanted to do something more than giving him some money here and there. That’s where the idea came from.”

Mr Knight started the challenge on May 1 setting a target of raising £100 whilst running one mile a day for 100 days.

“I thought if I could run the distance and raise £100 it would be a real achievement,” he said.

Both he and his partner, Laura Dubnewytsch, 38, have had family members affected by the disease, which added a personal element to the challenge.

The dad of three had also never run before making the challenge a huge undertaking.

“During the first run, about halfway around, I was thinking what on earth am I doing? Deep down I still thought I was a 14-year-old, but I knew I couldn’t give up,” said the dad.

Mr Knight set up a JustGiving for friends and family to donate to his 100 day challenge. He initially set the goal for £100, but the target was quickly passed.

“The initial target was £100, after we smashed that target, I then put it up to £250, which was smashed again, until we reached a total of £665 which is just incredible.”

Mr Knight said he is really pleased to have achieved what seemed an Olympic-sized task. He said: “There was never a moment where I thought I would give up, I couldn’t give up, people had been donating me money to run this challenge.

“I’m chuffed that I have completed runs, and to have raised that much money for such a great cause makes it even better."

Over the 100 days, Mr Knight’s one mile times improved drastically managing to almost halve his initial run time of 14 minutes down to eight minutes on his final jog on August 8.

Mr Knight believes the challenge has made a “positive impact” on his life and has also improved his mental health.

Mr Knight’s youngest daughter, Keira, said she is “so proud” of her father. The 22-year-old said: “The dedication he had shown to this challenge is incredible and he has worked so hard.

“Alzheimer’s Society is a charity that is close to my family’s heart, so it makes me so proud that he has completed it.”

Between him and his dad, the pair have raised over £3000 for the charity. Mr Knight said he hopes to have “inspired others” to set themselves challenges with aims to raise money and awareness.

He said: “My family have been so encouraging, I hope I have inspired them to up take a money raising challenge. My daughter is already trying to beat my personal best.”

“But I won’t be hanging up my running shoes anytime soon.”

You can donate to Mr Knight’s 100-day running challenge JustGiving page here.