LEGENDARY West Cumbrian Marathon man Gary McKee will be embarking on his biggest challenge yet by running 365 marathons in 365 days in 2022.

Mr McKee, from Cleator Moor, will start his epic challenge on January 1 and is aiming to run 365 consecutive marathons, to raise £1million for Macmillan Cancer Support and Hospice at Home West Cumbria. If the challenge is successful, he will run more than 9,500 miles.

The 52-year-old, who has supported Macmillan for more than 18 years, earlier this year completed a gruelling 110 consecutive marathons for his two chosen charities, raising an incredible £200,000.

Mr McKee was inspired to start fundraising for Macmillan after his father was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. Sadly his father died from an unrelated illness in 2003. Back in 2017 Gary was the recipient of ITV Border’s Fundraiser of the Year at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain awards, after running 100 marathons in 100 days to raise £100,000 for Macmillan.

The dad-of-three has previously climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, trekked through New Zealand and ran from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Mr McKee said: “This will be my biggest challenge in terms of duration. I did run 550 consecutive days a few years ago, but it wasn’t to these levels - I was doing 100 miles a week. With this I’ll be doing almost double that, so, it is a big one.

“But it’s a day at a time and that’s all I have ever looked at. You don’t look any further than the day after when you’re doing your run - you focus on what you’re doing and setting yourself up for the following day.

“People don’t just want the vests for January, they also want them for December 2022 so they can see that it is long and drawn out, and they understand that whilst it’s difficult, they know who is doing it and what my calibre is and they believe in me like I believe in myself, and we will get there.

“I only see what I’m doing as nothing more than what I’m capable of doing and if we all done a little bit more of what we’re capable of then the world would be a better place.”

Sue McDonald, Macmillan’s fundraising manager for Cumbria, said: “This is an absolutely Herculean task to tackle but Gary has proven that he has the determination, and true Cumbrian grit, to complete whatever challenge he takes on. We wish him the very best of luck and will support him every step of the way.”

Donate via JustGiving and follow his progress on Facebook.