Bid to run 24 hours without food fails
AN ATTEMPT to run for 24 hours without food ended after 15 hours with Ben De Jersey Moore suffering from swollen and blistered feet and stiff legs.
Mr De Jersey Moore, an ultra-marathon enthusiast, ran a total of 61.1 miles between Salerie Corner and Bulwer Avenue.
He said that was the equivalent of two marathons, a 10k and a 5k, all without taking in any calories and surviving on water and salts.
He started his run at dawn on Saturday and said he had a lot of support.
‘I was joined by a few people at various times and I had a lot of people honking their horns and wishing me luck.’
Mr De Jersey Moore is a teacher at Les Beaucamps High School and said some colleagues joined him on the route during the morning. ‘That was when I was feeling great and running most of it,’ he said.
But the hard surface of the footpath took its toll on his feet, which started to swell and gave him blisters.
‘In the end my legs completely seized up,’ he said. ‘I had a lot of tightening in the calves and some nasty blisters.’
Despite dropping from running to a brisk walk, by about midnight he felt he had to stop.
‘I knew I could tough it out until morning, and would have got about 85 miles in, but I would have been in a really terrible state.
‘I didn’t want to be on crutches for Christmas.’
Although his feet were injured, he said that his efforts had shown that he had burned fat, not muscle, during the run.
‘I will be feasting over Christmas and don’t recommend this for weight loss or as a one-stop shop for improving your fat-burning efficiency as a runner,’ he said.
He now intends to see if he can set a world record for running 100 miles with no calories, but that is likely to be a year or two away and will be done on a running track or treadmill.
In the more immediate future, he will be taking part in the Last One Standing event in February in County Down in which runners have to complete a 4.2-mile loop in an hour every hour for 24 hours.
. Mr De Jersey Moore’s run was sponsored and as of yesterday he had raised more than £400 for Action for Children and the Salvation Army.
Anyone who wishes to donate may still do so through Virgin Money https://bit.ly/2Cvotb6 or Giving.gg https://bit.ly/2SiwuFI.
