‘We’re pushing ourselves to the limit’: Friends to run 15 marathons in 15 days in memory of loved ones lost to cancer

Two best friends who have lost family members to cancer are preparing to run 15 marathons in 15 days and will be “pushing (themselves) to the limit in their memory”.

Milo Young, 26, a health safety and environmental co-ordinator from Bath, Somerset, lost his mother Natalie Young, aged 53, to colon cancer in December 2024 – just five months after she was diagnosed.

His best friend Gabe Maddison, a financial analyst from Purton, near Swindon, also 26, lost his uncle Alex Meers to leukaemia, aged 40, in 2006, and his grandfather Peter Maddison to prostate cancer, aged 74, in 2014.

Although neither have run a marathon outside of their training for this 393-mile (630km) challenge, the pair will set off on Saturday, running from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Brighton, and they hope to raise £10,000 for the charity Purple Heart Wishes.

So far, their training has involved a “relentless” schedule of daily gym sessions and runs, but they say the challenge will be just “a small taste of what (their) loved ones went through”.

They expect to get across the finish line with motivation from friends and family, even if they “have to crawl”.

“My mum was a ridiculously kind woman who just supported me in whatever I wanted to do,” Milo told PA Real Life.

“With a challenge like this, she would be beyond excited for me and completely back me the whole way.”

Gabe said: “What they’ve gone through is much more difficult than this challenge – so it’s just putting ourselves in a position where we want to suffer a little bit for them.”

Gabe grew up on a “very close-knit” family-run farm in Purton, in north Wiltshire.

He said his uncle Alex was in peak physical health, as he played rugby and was a deep-sea Navy diver, so when he died of leukaemia in 2006, the whole family was “shocked” – although Gabe was too young to comprehend what cancer was at the time.

Speaking about his grandfather’s subsequent death, he said: “I was a little bit older when my granddad died, so I did understand how he passed away and what had happened – but during that time I was studying and couldn’t really process it.”

He continued: “You live on with the stories that are told – you just wish that those loved ones were here now and could tell you the stories themselves.”

Gabe and Milo met at the University of Sussex in 2018, bonding over their love of sports and playing for the same university football team.

They both ran 10 to 15km distances while studying, with Gabe completing a half-marathon in Munich in 2024 after graduating.

In July 2024, Milo’s mother Natalie started to feel unwell on a family holiday to Spain and she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to her liver – and the family was “completely shell-shocked”.

She had emergency surgery and died in December 2024 following complications.

“If I ever think about it too much, it becomes a bit overwhelming,” said Milo.

“I’m good at distracting myself and putting my energy into these sort of missions – and my girlfriend (Antonia) has been amazing at keeping me occupied.”

“Exercise and sport are just the best thing for mental health, whatever you’re going through,” he added.

It was over New Year’s Eve in 2024, less than a month after Milo lost his mother, that the two friends hatched a plan to tackle 15 marathons in 15 days.

They initially wanted to cover Land’s End to John O’Groats, but after struggling to get enough time off work, they decided to run across England instead.

“We’re both so sporty and really into the gym, so we knew the kind of exercises we needed to do and used the internet to make a training programme,” Milo said.

Gabe added: “We wake up, we do a workout in the morning, we go to work, then we go to the gym, then we go on a run – then the next day we go again.

“Our bodies have adapted to relentless physical activity.”

Training has not been without its challenges though – Milo had “runner’s knee” due to the impact of road-running, and Gabe picked up an Achilles injury, which he has now recovered from.

In the tougher moments, as well as remembering the loved ones they are running for, the pair have watched videos of “The Hardest Geezer” Russ Cook – who finished running the entire length of Africa in April 2024 – to keep themselves motivated.

“It’s quite reassuring,” Gabe said.

“With our training, you think, ‘You could be running the length of Africa’, and so then it becomes a bit of a coping mechanism.”

For their own challenge, Johnsons Swindon has donated a charity-branded Jeep that Milo’s father Gary, 64, will be driving along the route – giving the boys a chance to refuel and hydrate every 10km or so.

Sussex business Edge Tea and Coffee has provided the pair with tea and coffee to keep them alert during training and the race itself.

They will also be using donated Science in Sport gels as part of their fuelling strategy, aiming for a 6:30/km pace, but say they will adapt if injuries or blisters slow them down.

They will start in Berwick-upon-Tweed on July 5 and end in Brighton on July 19, staying in hotels booked by their chosen charity, Purple Heart Wishes, along the route.

The pair are anticipating lots of support for the final stretch in Brighton, and have been “super chuffed that so many people have been generous” after friends and family brought their fundraising total to £8,000 ahead of the official start date.

They said they chose to support Purple Heart Wishes – which grants experiences and memories to adults aged between 18 and 55 diagnosed with a terminal illness – because it is a small, local charity, and they feel their impact would be demonstrable.

“We just loved the whole idea that no matter what’s going to happen, life is there to be enjoyed,” explained Gabe.

But while the boys expect to be well-supported on the final stretch, they are not expecting the rest of the race to be easy.

“I think between marathon five to 10 will be the most gruelling, from York down to Cambridge, as the high will have gone and the end will be too far away to see,” said Gabe.

Milo said: “There will probably be days where we’re just like, ‘We cannot do this’.

“But that will be a small taste of what our loved ones went through.

“We’ll be pushing ourselves to the limit in their memory.”

To donate or find out more, visit the fundraising page at: justgiving.com/page/runcancerrun.