In our issue released 23rd November, we spoke to Jess and Ben, a sibling duo with a plan to run backwards for sixteen kilometers to raise much needed funds for FearLess - a domestic abuse charity based in the South West.

The pair set a target of £320 to raise in aid of the charity. This figure relates to FearLess’ “16 Day Challenge”, where the goal was to raise £160 over sixteen days whilst doing a challenge related to the number sixteen. The two went above and beyond this, doubling their set target to try and make one hundred and sixty pounds each.

We’re pleased to let our readers know that they raised a whopping six-hundred and thirty-five pounds in total, plus gift aid.

Jess explained how these funds could help the charity. “Fifty pounds for example could feed a parent and children for a week if they are forced to flee, or three hundred pounds could fund a therapy course for a victim of sexual violence.”

“We hope the money we have raised will help change if not save someone’s life!”

The pair added, “We feel incredibly proud and thankful to all who donated. We thought hitting our target would be tough enough - let alone doubling it! People were so generous and supportive, we also received some donations from passers-by en route which really spurred us on on the day.”

They reflected on their feat, saying:

“We were over the moon to finish. It was such an unusual challenge and so we didn’t quite know what to expect but we had a lot of fun and laughs. Our family came out to support us and people on the route were cheering us on. Our legs were really sore for a couple days afterwards; but knowing how much we raised for such a good cause made it all worth it.”

When asked if they did any training in preporation for the big day, Jess told us, “I did a little practise around the local fields however we mainly just decided to go for it on the day. I think we hoped the adrenaline would just take us. We packed loads of snacks to keep us going though and lots of hot drinks to keep warm which definitely helped.”

Jess and Ben managed to reach theirtarget a day before completing their challenge, and recieved more donations on the day as they live-streamed the event from start to finish.

On the day, people stopped to ask the duo what they were doing.

“We received some good support from fellow runners (who were running the right way) and walkers. We also encountered some really confused dogs who just couldn’t work out what we were doing!”

It turns out the run was quite the triumph, taking a similar amount of time as the average marathon participant would to complete!

“It took around five hours in total. We had to take a lot of stops and each time we felt a bit dizzy, but once recovered we started again and gained a good pace.”

If you’d like to donate, you can still do so via Jess and Ben’s enthuse page, https://fearless.enthuse.com/pf/jess-and-ben-fearless-6dd2c-2e884. Alternatively, you can donate directly and find out more about the charity’s work via the FearLess website, https://www.fear-less.org.uk/.