Mansfield man running length of Nottinghamshire to raise money for liver unit

Video: Anna Butler talks to Brent Stojanovic during a training session.  

A Nottinghamshire man is planning to run an ultramarathon to raise money for the hospital unit caring for his ill father.

Brent Stojanovic, 28, from Mansfield, is planning to run 58km, or 36 miles, next month as part of the event in Umbria, Italy, to raise funds for the liver department at Nottingham’s Queen Medical Centre.

Brent’s father, Pete, is fighting terminal liver cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2015.

Brent describes the care given to him by the Hepatology department at the QMC as “working around the clock”.

He said: “They are a really great bunch of people from the nurses right through to the consultants, really personable, really committed and with a fantastic level of expertise.

“It sort of felt like the least I could do was run an ultra-marathon in order to give something back to them.”

What makes a marathon ‘ultra’?

An ultra-marathon is any race distance above a standard marathon distance (42km) and can range from 50km races all the way through to 100 mile races which can take multiple days.

Liver disease is the only major cause of death still increasing year-on-year.

Source: British Liver Trust

The money raised will be given to Nottingham University Hospitals Charity and passed to the QMC Hepatology Department.

They will invest it in funding improvements to facilities, new equipment, staff training, additional services for patients and local medical research.

Brent hopes to raise a ‘soft’ target of £400 but thinks he can go a lot further.

“The reason I set the target at such an achievable level is because I’ve agreed if we hit the target to throw in a tub of hair bleach and bleach my hair blonde on the day before I go out to race,” he added.

“With me being quite dark haired it’s going to look absolutely ridiculous but ultimately gives everyone an extra incentive to part with their hard earned cash and get me over the finish line.”

In preparation Brent is spending up to 10 hours training a week. The race will take place on March 5 around Lake Trasimeno situated in the central region of Italy.

Brent’s sponsor page can be found here.