Guernseyman Drew Jonkmans is taking on his biggest challenge so far.

He’s already completed the Marathon des Sables and he ran around the track at Footes Lane for 24 hours, but now he’s tackling Project Endure – a 2,000-mile endurance challenge across the UK.

Drew is documenting his training and the challenge itself will be captured on film, as he aims to help ignite a wider conversation about mental health. 

Drew is tackling Project Endure in direct response to his concerns over Guernsey’s “alarming mental health crisis”.

Statistics show that Guernsey’s suicide rates have doubled in a decade to 14.6 per 100,000, which is significantly higher than the UK average.

In this bracket, young men (20-29) are particularly affected with core issues in Guernsey such as a critical lack of fast, affordable mental health support, leaving many suffering in silence said Drew.

Pictured; Guernsey’s placing within world Suicide stats see’s it almost double that of Jersey. (Courtesy of Project Endure).

As part of Project Endure, he will run 1,000 miles, and cycle a further 1,000 miles across the UK.

“I’m running from Land’s End to John O’ groats on 1000 mile route over 20 days, and then turning back around and cycling all the way back down to Land’s End again,” said Drew.

“The cycle is over 10 days,” he added.

Drew’s journey is being captured by filmmaker Ewan Champion-Smith, who plans to publicly debut the end product at local screenings next year.

“At the same time, Ewan is going to be covering that journey and creating a feature length film all around the topic of Mental Health, and the partners that we’ve partnered with, which are Bigmoose and the Becoming X Foundation,” said Drew.

Pictured: Drew Jonkmans running the Marathon des Sables (Instagram).

“Along that way, we’ll be covering the story and hopefully providing inspiration to everyone who watches, and obviously also raising awareness and funds for our charities as well”.

Mr Champion-Smith told Express it was the passion shown by Mr Jonkman, that made him believe in and sign up for the project.

“The smile on Drew’s face when he spoke about it, my only real criteria for working with people is passion.

“I think is really, really important to see people in service to themselves. It’s only by being in service to themselves, by doing what they truly love doing, can they be in service to other people.”

Pictured: Organisers hope the challenge will help fund the potentially life saving service for islanders. (Courtesy of Project Endure).

Project Endure’s solution hinges on a partnership with Bigmoose, a UK charity providing free, rapid-response therapy promising service users a first session within seven days. 

Project Endure aims to bring this service directly to Guernsey.

Drew and Ewan are also working with BecomingX. Co-founded by Bear Grylls, it focuses on “helping individuals realise their potential”.

The Guernsey duo still need the backing of the community though.

They hope that corporate sponsorships for the challenge’s logistics and filming will ensure 100% of public donations directly fund the charity partners. 

For Guernsey specifically, donations will be ring-fenced to fund the Bigmoose therapy service on the island. Project Endure seeks to raise awareness, provide tangible support, and position Guernsey as a leader in mental health progress nationally.

You can find out more about the challenge, reach out to Mr Jonkmans and Mr Champion-Smith, and support their effort on their website HERE.