News

A trailblazing trio are more than getting into their ultra-fundraising stride for Seashell Trust.

Luke Kuhn and Conor Ray, from professional services business Christie & Co, and Jacques Potgieter, a graduate surveyor with Sanderson Weatherall, are taking part in the five-day Ultra X Sri Lanka.

The adventurous trio, who were all brought up in Cape Town, South Africa, are taking part in a 250km ultra-marathon for Seashell Trust in April.

The team are members of The Trailblazers Club that supports charities by participating in extreme athletic events around the world.

Analyst Luke said: “As a team we had never run further than a half marathon before we embarked on our journey. Running a marathon every day for 5 days seemed inconceivable. This, paired with the heat which is expected to reach 30 degrees Celsius, will be our greatest challenge.”

“Each day we will be on the road between 4-9 hours, if we’re lucky. We have started off doing strength training for our legs and then slowly started to build the kilometres of running into our legs. In a typical week we will try and run 50-60km Monday to Friday followed by a long run 30+ km on the weekend”

They have recently visited Seashell Trust’s national centre of excellence in Cheadle Hulme to find more motivation to keep them going out on trail.

Luke said: “When we wanted to align with a charity we realised our company Christie & Co had connections with Seashell. A charity that was dedicated to making the lives of children with complex severe learning disabilities safe and happy and as a result helping them become more independent was exactly what we were hoping to help.

“Having spent time at Seashell Trust, we were left speechless by the job they are are doing. Every staff member has fully dedicated their lives to ensuring every student has a chance of living an independent, happy life upon graduation and it was awesome to see how happy these students were as a result.”

The Trailblazers are hoping to raise £50 pounds for every kilometre run, totalling £12,500, and you can sponsor them here.

To follow their adventures in Sri Lanka, find them on Instagram or Facebook.