7 Marathons, 7 Days, 7 Countries

A MAN is set to tackle seven marathons in seven days across seven countries in a bid to raise £50,000 for charity. Dean Cornish, 33, of St Leonard's Street, Stamford, and three friends have set themselves the huge challenge to raise funds for The Prince's Trust.

The group, who all work for publishing company Igloo Books in Sywell near Northampton, set off on Monday, April 16 to run the official routes in Paris, Luxembourg, Cologne, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cardiff before ending at the London Marathon on April 22 – a total of 183 miles.

 Dean has run in several marathons before but admits his next challenge will be the most physically, mentally and logistically demanding yet. Dean, a former pupil at Stamford School, said: "I was asked by our managing director John Styring if I was interested in doing a challenge for charity but I didn't realise it would be as big as this. "I've run a few marathons before but I struggled to walk for three or four days after so I really don't know how I'm going to cope with running seven in seven days.

"I've been running around Rutland and Stamford and been doing about four miles a week since January and I'm feeling quite intrepid about the whole thing. "I don't think any of us realised just how hard this was going to be and we're not experienced runners so the task ahead is truly daunting. "I'm hoping to do them all in under six hours so we have enough time to get to the next event."The Prince's Trust is a youth charity which gives practical and financial support to young people throughout the UK.The runners have raised £37,000 for their collection so far, which was helped by a charity ball in February which raised £20,000.

Dean said: "We're doing it for The Prince's Trust because we know how much good work they do in the UK.
You can really see the difference it makes. "If we raise the £50,000 it will help young people get back into education or work, and back on to the straight and narrow." Dean will be running with his colleagues, John Styring, Mark Burge and Jonny Illingworth. The group ran the Frankfurt and Dublin marathons in consecutive days last October for the same charity, raising £2,000.Dean is set to up his training regime for his next challenge with the help of coach Alan Hayes, of running club Stamford Striders. Several people have completed the seven marathons in seven days in seven countries challenge, most notably adventurer Ranulph Fiennes who completed the feat across seven continents in 2003. To sponsor Dean, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/igloobookschallenge