Javelin star turned footballer James Campbell to run marathon in six-metre back garden to raise money for NHS

Brimscombe & Thrupp forward James Campbell will spend his 32nd birthday running the equivalent of a marathon to raise money for the NHS.

And it will all be done without breaking social distancing regulations because he will be running the 26.2 miles in the back garden of his Up Hatherley home in Cheltenham, which is around six metres in length.

Campbell, a former world class javelin thrower who was also on the books of Cheltenham Town as a youngster, plans to live stream his gruelling endeavour, which will take place on Wednesday, April 1.

He posted this tweet on Monday, vowing to cover the full marathon distance if he received 10,000 retweets, which did not take long to achieve and it has now been retweeted nearly 20,000 times:

"I tweeted that I'd run a marathon in my six metre long garden if I got 10,000 retweets and it got 10,000 in a very short period of time, so thanks to everyone that's retweeted and the support has been absolutely incredible," Campbell said.

"I am not sure of the start time yet, but it's on April 1, which is also my birthday.

posted Sunday April 5th