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A Jersey chemistry teacher and her friend will this weekend be running all the way from London to Brighton to raise money to help islanders with mental health conditions.
Victoria College's Eimear Pallot and Aisling Thebault, who moved to London 10 years ago, first started running together in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when Aisling ended up stuck on the island.
Not long after, the pair began to notice the effect the regular runs were having on their wellbeing.
"We just realised how much of a positive impact it had on us and how much it helped us. Starting the day with a run just makes it so much more manageable," Ms Pallot recalled.
A year later, the pair completed The Island Walk, 78km in total, and decided the obvious next step was to go for a round 100km.
As a result, the pair will be strapping on their running shoes and attempting the 'London 2 Brighton' challenge, a 100km run beginning at Richmond and ending at the Brighton race course this Saturday, alongside 2,000 other hopefuls.
A regular marathon is just over 42km.
On Saturday 27 May, our wonderful Chemistry Teacher - Mrs Pallot - will be taking off her lab coat and putting on her running shoes to run the London to Brighton Ultramarathon for @MindJersey. To find our more and donate, please click here:https://t.co/mDc1uFad9q@VCJ_Head pic.twitter.com/nOo6DVSQL8
— VictoriaCollege (@victoriacollege) May 22, 2023
While Ms Pallot has completed marathon runs before, she said she was slightly daunted by the prospect of running more than double that length.
"It's definitely going to be a challenge, I've never done anything like it before," she said.
The pair have been training since February, but Ms Pallot admitted that they still have quite a lot to cram in before Saturday.
"So far, the longest we've done is 65km – we did a sort of loop around Jersey... so we just have to add 35km onto that!" she said.
"Mentally, we know that we can do it, we just don't know what's going to happen on the day. It's just about making sure we can actually sustain it."
So far, the pair have already raised more than £2,000 for Mind Jersey, so are now hoping to reach £3,000.
The pair will be running the London 2 Brighton Ultramarathon this Saturday (27 May).
Each has set up their own JustGiving page, and you can click HERE or HERE to donate.
Pictured top: Eimear Pallot and Aisling Thebault.
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