Video: Luke Wigman on why he runs to raise money
A Nottinghamshire man who completed seven marathons across seven continents in just seven days is aiming to run the length of Ireland in record time.
Six years ago, endurance athlete Luke Wigman, from Selston, was serving as a paratrooper in Afghanistan when he stood on an explosive device which tore his leg to pieces.
However he has just finished running the seven marathons and is aiming to run the length of Ireland in the fastest time ever in October.
Speaking on Sports Week, Luke said: “The overall distance is about 350 miles so I’d be ticking off 100 miles per day, running for 18-20 hours every day.
“I like to mix things up – I’ve done short, medium and long distances and everything in between; I’ve never done this kind of cross-country event and I don’t know what the training will involve but it’s a new challenge which is why I want to get stuck in.
“It has been done in three days 15 hours before so I want to do it a little bit quicker then maybe do John O’Groats to Land’s End in the future.”
Luke says the marathon mission was years in the making and is hoping that this training will stand him in good stead.
He said: “The marathon challenge was something that I have built up to over the years after having done some daft marathons on the North Pole, in Antarctica and on volcanoes.
“I trained specifically for the seven marathons though in six or seven months so I knew what I was getting myself into, pushing my mileage high in the last few weeks and was ready for it.
“The logistics and the flying were quite tough which puts strain on the body but once you accept you will be doing a marathon a day, you get used to it and it becomes a little bit easier.”
Luke runs to raise money for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, which is being built in Loughborough to bring clinical rehab to wounded armed forces personnel.
For more from Barry, watch the March 1 episode of Sports Week on Notts TV at 7.30pm, or see our catch up service.
