I’m going to run around 1,200 miles back home to South Shields from Madrid
A South Shields runner is preparing to take on his next huge challenge.
Joe Larkin, the owner of South Shields-based running club Believe to Run, has announced his latest mammoth challenge just less than a year on after he ran from the borough to Paris.
The 30-year-old has revealed that starting on August 3, he will be running home to South Shields from the Spanish capital of Madrid - covering approximately 1,200 miles over the course of 28 days.
It will be Joe’s biggest challenge to date, having run for 13 days straight in July 2024 to ensure that he was in the French capital for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Joe has told the Shields Gazette where the idea for his challenge came from and explained how training is going ahead of the run later this year.
He said: “From struggling with mental health in the past to also seeing others around me struggling, I want to inspire and show people what we are capable of.
“After running to Paris last year, I wanted to do something bigger, especially as I felt that I had a lot more to give.
“The first country I ever went to was Spain with my mam when I was young so Madrid is a special place to me and I thought it would be a good place to run back to South Shields from.
“A lot of people have called me crazy since I announced the challenge but again, it will show people that we have so much to give if we keep on going and put one foot in front of the other.
“It isn’t about just running from Madrid, for me, it is showing the resilience and the discipline to just keep going when things get tough.
“Training is going well, I’m currently running around 60 miles per week and I’m going to be upping that very soon.
“The miles will be getting bigger every week but I’m putting all the work in to improve my mental and physical strength.
“I’m giving it everything that I’ve got.”
Joe has also announced that he will be raising money for two charities as part of his run from Madrid, with him selecting If U Care Share and Place2Be to collect funds for.
He added: “So the first charity I’m raising money for is If U Care Share, who are a world suicide prevention charity who help people of all ages.
“The second is Place2Be who support children in schools with their mental health - this one is special to me because I feel that’s where I started to suffer from my mental health but I didn’t realise until I was an adult.
“But all the trauma I’ve been through in my childhood has made me who I am today and that’s why I want to prove to myself that I’m strong enough to do a challenge like this.”
If you want to learn more about Believe to Run, you can by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/Believetorunn or https://www.instagram.com/believetorunn/.
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