Former champion jockey Richard Dunwoody has conquered the first phase of his 1,000 Mile Challenge — by reaching the 100 miles in 100 hours milestone.
Richard embarked on the challenge on Friday (29 May) at 11pm in Newmarket.
And at 2.58am yesterday morning (Monday 3 June) he completed his 100th mile.
He will be walking 1,000 miles up and down the Bury road in Newmarket, emulating a challenge undertaken by Captain Barclay 200 years ago, who was bet 1000 guineas that he couldn’t walk 1,000 miles in 1,000 consecutive hours.
“I’ve had great support so far as well as a fair bit of stick from the Newmarket stable staff, but generally things have gone well,” said Richard. “Just 900 to go!”
Richard is getting just four single hours of sleep every night and says he is feeling “quite strong, although obviously tired and mentally slightly out of it”.
His fastest mile so far has been 14 minutes 46 seconds and his slowest 16 mins 53.
Along the way he will be joined by jockeys AP McCoy and Frankie Dettori, rugby player Lawrence Dallaglio, Olympic swimmer Mark Foster, bookmaker Paddy Power and novelist Jilly Cooper who will all walk a mile with him.
“He’s mad but you’ve got to admire someone who is giving up sleep and effectively walking a marathon every day for 42 days for charity,” said Mark Foster.
Richard will be walking the 1,000 Mile Challenge from 29 May to 10 July, in aid of Alzheimer’s Society, Racing Welfare, SPARKS and Spinal Research.
