Luke Bellingham (BA Journalism, 2024) is about to run from Nordkapp, the most Northern tip of Norway, to London, UK. Covering a distance of around 4,000km, Luke will need to run an average of 60km per day for over 70 days to see him back in London on time. According to Luke, he would be the first person to complete this run and therefore set a world record. It’s a personal challenge he looks forward to, but the overall goal is to raise money for Kids’ Village, a local charity close to his heart.
“Even before I had fully set my eyes on this run, I always wanted to finish university and go travelling for a few months,” Luke Bellingham says.
“I wanted to go to places like Europe, Iten in Kenya, the home of some of the best marathon runners in the world, and Australia. So, I’m excited to see a lot of Europe and Scandinavia, and even if my legs are extremely tired, I’m hoping the views will make up for it!”
Luke is hardly the first graduate to go travelling post-university, but he’s unique in his ambition to complete the journey on foot while trying to set a world record.
“So for my run, I will start at the most Northern tip of Europe in Nordkapp, Norway, and attempt to run 60km a day through countries including Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and back to England.”
According to Luke, he could become the first person to successfully complete this run and thereby set a new world record. Crossing the start line in early August and running almost a marathon and a half a day without any planned rest days, the goal is to complete the challenge in just over 70 days and be back in London, Trafalgar Square specifically, on Monday 20 October. It’s no small feat, and if he’s unable to keep the pace up, there is a real risk he might have to abandon the challenge.
“Basically, because the UK is not part of the European Union, I can only spend 90 days in Europe, so whatever happens, I have to complete a minimum of a marathon a day, otherwise I will run out of time,” he says.
Luke did some running in primary and secondary school, but it wasn’t until his BA in Journalism at City St George’s that running became a real passion.
“As the stereotype goes, I probably spent my first year not being too healthy and, maybe, drinking and going out too much! But once I got into my second year, I knew by January that the parties and drinking too much weren’t really a thing I enjoyed doing; I was only doing it because everyone else was,” he says.
At first, he challenged himself not to drink alcohol for 100 days but then decided to make things just a little bit harder.
“Although the first few weeks were difficult, especially while still going out with friends, I found that I had more energy. I thought about how I hadn’t run since I was in school, so I thought I would get myself a pair of running shoes and see what happens.”
Not long after, Luke saw a video that would set him on the path of ultra-running.
“After running for a few weeks and struggling to even complete 10km without feeling like I was going to die, I was scrolling Twitter and came across a video of a now iconic ginger man shouting into his phone ‘Day 3 of running the entire length of Africa!’” Luke explains.
“At first, I didn’t believe this could be physically possible, especially compared to my lack of fitness, but then I began to pay more attention to Russ Cook, aka The Hardest Geezer, and I began thinking if he is capable of this, why couldn’t I?”
At the time, Luke had just signed up for his first half-marathon, but inspired by Cook, he began to imagine bigger challenges he could attempt.
“I think what helped massively was, weirdly, even though I was only training to run 21km, there were certainly times of day when both Russ and I were running, and it helped to create a vision for the future,” he says.
“Before running across Africa, I learned Russ became the first person to run from Istanbul to London solo, covering over a marathon a day for 71 days, and that’s when I began looking around.”
In addition to Russ Cook, other ultra-runners showed him what could be achieved.
“The Instagram algorithm began feeding me more and more ultra-runners, and I became familiar with Australian ultra-runner Nedd Brockmann, who, at the same age as me now [23], broke the record for running from Perth to Sydney, covering an average of over 80km daily. The distance from Nordkapp, Norway, to London is a similar distance to Perth to Sydney, around 4,000km, and this solidified the idea for me.“
Taking things from idea to reality, Luke has sacrificed much of his spare time to prepare.
“In terms of training, 100-mile weeks, plus working 35 hours, plus strength training are beginning to become the norm,” he says.
“When I, at the beginning of the year, knew I was going to do this run, I took the training back to basics and began to slowly build so that I wouldn’t overwork or injure myself too greatly. This means that an average training week would look like, Mon: 20km, Tue: 20km, Wed: 10km (with the run club), Thurs: 20km, Friday: 35km, Sat: off, and Sun: 45km.”
Prior to his record-setting run, however, Luke challenged himself closer to home, in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and that is how he came across children’s charity Kids’ Village.
“When I returned home from university, I began working in my local running store, AlphaRunning, Lichfield, and I quickly became the go-to person when it comes to running longer distances,” he says.
“There was an event coming up which we were sponsoring, which was a sort of backyard ultra whereby teams of 4 to 6 [runners] would aim to run as many laps as they could around Stowe Pool in 12 hours, each lap being 1.3km. I asked if anyone was doing it on their own and was essentially laughed at by Ian, who created this event, but he said if I wanted to be that stupid, he would let me do it.
Many said I wouldn’t last even half the day, especially as I technically had yet to run an official marathon, but I took on the challenge and began running home from work to increase my mileage, and during the actual run, I managed 75km in the allotted 12 hours.
Not only was this a test of my physical endurance, but I also believe a mental one. As I completed around 55 laps of the pool, it did become pretty boring. Other runners were also running at a significantly faster pace because they were able to stop for longer periods, whereas I needed to maintain pace.”
An important part of the Stowe Pool challenge was to raise money for Kids’ Village, a relatively new charity in the local area, which had a large goal to achieve. According to their website, Kids’ Village is on a mission to build the UK’s first purpose-built holiday village for children with critical illness and their families. Having received planning permission in 2023 for a location near Lichfield, they are now raising money to build the village.
“Not only did I resonate with what they wanted to build, but also the subsequent benefits it would bring to many children and their families,” Luke says.
He is now hoping to raise more money for Kids’ Village through his Nordkapp-London challenge and has set himself a £10,000 goal. But more would, of course, be welcome.
“When Nedd Brockmann ran across Australia, he worked with a relatively new and smaller charity called We Are Mobilise, who work with homeless people, and he raised 1.85 million AUD (around £900,000). If I could raise anywhere near that amount of money, I would be extremely grateful.”
Luke’s current ambitions may seem far removed from journalism and academia, but when Luke looks back at his degree, he can see plenty of overlap.
“What I especially enjoyed about the course was the fact that you are able to pretty much find your niche and dive further into it with each module, because of the wider parameters of the course,” he explains.
“For instance, my favourite module was the magazine module in the third year, where we had to create a physical magazine. We chose to do a sports magazine which covered a range of sports, and I was given the running section – surprisingly! This then allowed me to interview successful running journalists like Nick Harris-Fry and even James Ward, who went out to film content with Russ Cook in Africa, allowing me to get closer to those whom I have been following since I started.
A standout memory from that then was once Russ returned to England after successfully running the length of Africa, I was able to meet him, run a 5km with him in London, and I got him to sign the magazine which we had spent all year creating, so it all came full circle really!”
With only a few days before setting off on his own run, what are some of the challenges Luke expects to face?
“There have been many challenges I have had to overcome before I even get to the start line, like [finding a] crew and a lot of the logistical side of things.
But I think the main challenges I will face will be maintaining the consistency of the distance, no matter what other obstacles get thrown my way day to day, as well as recovery.
As I only have a small team because this challenge is essentially self-funded, I am unable to bring a team that can cover every part of any issue that could occur. But on the flip side, many people, including the likes of Russ Cook, have run further and endured more, so I think I will have to channel some of that energy!”
And what is Luke especially looking forward to?
I am definitely equally excited and nervous about starting, as with any extreme endurance event, the training has taken over my life for the last 6-7 months, not to say I have been living like a monk, but I feel I have made a lot of sacrifices to make myself as ready as possible for this run.
“And through all of this, I think this run will, in a weird way, wrap up my time at university from who I was at the beginning to now. I am also excited to see what I am personally capable of achieving distance-wise. Although I will be aiming for 60km daily, that doesn’t mean I can’t try and run more!”
Considering the fact Luke will be navigating the varied terrain of Northern and continental Europe for quite some time, he would like to give his current employer some recognition.
“I have got to give a shoutout to my work, AlphaRunning, as there are not many workplaces that will allow you three months off work and keep your job open for when you get back. If anyone wants a new pair of running trainers, check out the website first and support not only a local independent business, but a company who have been instrumental in turning this run into a reality.”
We wish Luke Bellingham our very best as he embarks on his run from Nordkapp, Norway, to London, UK, attempting to set a world record and raising money for charity!
If you would like to learn more about Luke’s challenge and his preparation for it, please visit his social media profiles and/or fundraising page: