Surf coaches tackle Navy Seal's challenge in ultra-fundraiser

Sunday 21 February 2021

The founders of a local charity dedicated to helping islanders of all abilities catch some waves will next month be running four miles, every four hours, for 48 hours to raise £4,800 for charity.

Max Wiltshire and Seán Burke, who founded ‘Healing Waves’ with Dominic Booth in 2017, were inspired by former Navy Seal and ultra-runner, David Goggins, who created the 4x4x48 challenge last year.

Mr Goggins said he had launched the challenge, which will take place on 5 March, to encourage people to come together for a common goal at “a time when there is so much divisiveness in the world."

All those participating in the challenge are invited to not only push their boundaries but also raise funds for a charity of their choice.

When Seán told Max about the challenge, his first reaction was, “Should we give it a go?”

While they are both runners and have taken part in half-marathons, neither has completed an 'ultra-runs'. In total, over the course of the challenge, they will be covering 48miles - the distance of an ultra-marathon.

Given their inexperience in ultra-runs, Max said they were grateful to receive guidance and support from Performance Physiotherapy.

“Training for something like this is tricky,” Max said. “We both know we can run four miles, but doing it every four hours is a challenge."

With Healing Waves’ activities being placed on hold at the moment, the pair has been running four to six miles every other day during the week, while also doing “big runs” of between 10 and 16 miles at the weekend. 

“We are trying to do some back-to-back runs to run on fatigued legs and we are just trying to eat right and get as much food as possible to help,” Max said. “It will be interesting, especially the mental side of things.”

The pair has worked out the perfect route for their challenge, and will be running around St. Martin, starting from 20:00 on Friday 5 March, with the last leg starting at 16:00 on Sunday 7. 

“We have found a route that is four miles, door-to-door, so we can leave from home and come back home to eat, hydrate and sleep,” Max said. “It’s a nice little route, but it was hard finding something that would not have too much uphill!

“We are encouraging people to come along and run with us, you can just email us to join."

Pictured: Healing Waves wants to open the island's first inclusive surf centre.

The pair is hoping to raise £4,800 ahead of the challenge to help fund the inclusive surf centre for which they will submit plans soon, as well as the charity’s high running costs.

People and local businesses can donate on the pair’s GoFundMe page or send cheques to Healing Waves.

“We could not raise any funds in 2020, it was really difficult, we had large scale events planned that we had to put on hold,” Max said. 

After a “tricky start” to the year due to the covid restrictions, Max and Seán are itching to get back in the water and catch some waves with the 200 families and individuals they support.

Pictured: Seán, Max (first and second from left) and Dominic (second from right) founded Healing Waves in 2018.

Founded in July 2017 and initially operating on a seasonal basis, Healing Waves is now a “year-round operation” with surf lessons, as well as paddle board, ‘flow rider’ and pool sessions. 

“The whole premise for surf therapy has existed for decades, we are only starting to embrace it now, the depth of research about its benefits is growing all the time,” Max said.

“We know the benefits for sure, we can see surfing has incredible mental and physical benefits, it’s fab that we can share it with so many people."

And, as well as helping islanders of al abilities enjoy the sea, there's a wider ambition too: “We are trying to make the island more inclusive!”

CLICK HERE to donate to Healing Waves.