Marathon every day for a year

A runner who endured horrific abuse as a child has passed the halfway mark in his epic quest to run at least a marathon every day for a year.

Rob Young, who lives in Twickenham, today notched up his 183rd consecutive day of marathon running since he started his tilt at the unofficial world record in April.

He hopes to raise £200,000 for children’s charities by completing at least 367 runs of marathon distance — 26 miles 385 yards — or more in the year between the 2014 and 2015 London marathons.

He does most of his runs around the official marathon course in Richmond Park before starting work at a West Hampstead Jaguar car parts supplier.

Mr Young, 31, describes his childhood as “a living hell”. He tells of abuse he suffered as a child and of being forced to witness a girl being sexually assaulted. He hopes his record attempt will inspire young victims of abuse. “I want those children to look at me and relate to what I’m doing and feel that if I can do something challenging, that they can too and that can help them get over what they’ve been through,” he said.

Mr Young, who has a 21-month-old son with his fiancée Joanna and a five-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, starts his day at 2.45am and begins his run at 3am, typically taking four hours to complete the distance in his McKenzie tartan kilt.

Mr Young, who has been backed by Sir Richard Branson and Coldplay, often does not get home until around 7.30pm and says he is surviving on less than four hours sleep. So far he has lost more than four stone.