Race across five islands raised over £10,000 for Mind Jersey

Saturday 16 June 2018

Five islands. 48 hours running. Over 100 miles. More than £10,000 raised for charity. This was the achievement of eight fit Channel Islanders on their ‘Five Rocks Ultra Challenge’ last weekend.

Steve Meredith, Craig Barrie, Jamie Ellis, Garry Yeardley, Bryan Wilkins, Zach Mahe, Jon Stevens and Phil Clarke started in Sark, then ran in Alderney, Herm, Guernsey, finishing in St. Aubin's Bay in Jersey.

The team, seven of whom work for HSBC, raised around £5,000 themselves for mental health charity Mind. The bank matched the donations helping the amount reach £10,000. With final donations, and the crowdfunding page still open, the runners are hoping to get £12,000. The money will be used specifically to raise awareness of mental health in young men across the islands.

While he admits that the challenge was like pushing his body through hell, Phil Clarke was "feeling pretty good" on Friday. "I thought I would be out of action for a while," he told Express. "But I have already been for a run and it went well."

Pictured: From left Steve Meredith, Craig Barrie, Jamie Ellis, Garry Yeardley, Bryan Wilkins, Zach Mahe, Jon Stevens and Phil Clarke outside the HSBC branch in Sark.

Phil started running just over a year ago to deal with different stresses in his personal life and at work. After running the Jersey marathon in October, he started pondering about going further and taking on a longer challenge.

He found a group of like-minded people, "we all sort of knew each other but we were not close, we didn't know very much about each other," Phil said, and they came up with the idea of running across five islands. They decided to support Mind, whose work around mental health ties in with the benefit of exercising. Phil says: "The mental health of young men is not something that is often talked about so we hoped to help raise awareness of it."

The charity, which aims to challenge stigma, increase understanding and raise awareness about mental health, said they were delighted when the team came forward wanting to support them. A spokesperson said: "The example of a group of guys, coming together to plan such an ambitious event and undertake the gruelling training was inspirational. But more than this it was about guys doing something physical (if a bit extreme) that got them fit, out of doors and also about setting and achieving a goal.

"Too many people remain unconnected and inactive and young men are an important target group that we hope to reach as they need to understand that their mental health and wellbeing is just as important as their physical health. They need to be encouraged to talk about things more openly and about how they feel and raising awareness about mental health, and Mind Jersey in particular, as this group has done has been a great boost to our campaigning."

The eight runners set off to Sark on Friday with Quay boats who "whizzed them around the islands" as Phil says. They were housed by the Stocks hotel ahead of the start of their 10-mile run in Sark. Phil said the beginning was a bit painful as the squad had to tackle a big hill very early on. The beautiful scenery however made up for it.

It was then time to get to Alderney where another 10-mile run awaited the runners. After this, the squad sailed to Sark, Phil's favourite place. "It is like a tropical paradise," he said. "It was phenomenal. It was a bit hard not to stay after we had finished running as there was a beer festival. There was no one else on the beach as we were running, it was like a scene from a movie!"

Guernsey was the next island on the map and its cliff paths proved to be incredibly challenging for the runners. "It was brutal," said Phil. After running for 32 miles, the runners tried to catch some sleep. The following day, they ran another 26 miles under beautiful sunshine. Although it got foggy at some point, Phil says they were quite lucky with the weather.

In Jersey however, they faced pelting rain and severe conditions. "It was absolutely horrendous," explains Phil. "Luckily we had support from friends. Receiving drunken texts overnight from friends that were out celebrating in town was quite comforting."

The team finally reached the final leg of their challenge in St. Aubin, less than 48 hours after they had set off from Sark. "Some of us were depleted," said Phil. "We probably burned 17,000 calories, it was really high burn calorie."

With their Ultra challenge now completed, the eight runners are already thinking up of the next one. While nothing is confirmed, they already have plans to open the Five Rocks Ultra to the general public next year. "108 miles is torturous on your body," said Phil. "You get a sore back, sore feet, some of the guys got blisters. But I think the biggest challenge is mentally and pushing forward."