Northampton woman raises £10,000 for charity after epic 5,000 run around British coast

Elise Downing has spent the last 10 months completing her running adventure, which involved completing an average of 16 miles a day.

The former Kingsthorpe College student is believed to be one of only two people who has run around the whole of the British coast.

Miss Downing said: “I’ve always liked the idea of doing a big physical adventure. I saw some amazing places that I would never have otherwise seen.”

The 24-year-old, who only started running fours years ago, said she had particularly enjoyed running round the south-west coast but had struggled to keep going through the wet and windy weather in February.

Ms Downing said: “I had a rule that if I had a terrible day I would keep going for at least two weeks and see if I had a good day.

“I was also running for charity and I always got a boost when I got another donation.”

Miss Downing said she had also suffered with the chafing of her rucksack, which contained her camping gear, against her back when she was running. Another obstacle in her path was her fear of cows.

She said: “I took some huge detours just to avoid running through fields with cows.

“It probably didn’t help that I stayed with some farmers who told me how dangerous cows could be.”

After finishing her 5,000-mile run in Greenwich last week, Miss Downing is now back at home in Kingsthorpe. She has raised a total of almost £10,000 for Young Minds, a children’s mental health charity and Beyond Food, a charity that supports the homeless.

Miss Downing said: “It is a rare achievement but it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It stills feels a novelty at the moment to have warm, clean clothes.”

After self-funding her coastal run, Miss Downing is now thinking of planning another adventure, which will be on a bicycle rather than on foot.