Man describes 24-hour treadmill fundraiser as ‘torture’ but ‘incredible’

An activewear company founder said running on a treadmill for 24 hours in a pub to raise money for charity was “torture” but “incredible”.

Joe Pritchard, from Worcester, continuously ran for 24 hours on a treadmill that he set up at The New Inn in Shrawley to raise money for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, a charity set up by Scotland rugby player Doddie Weir who died aged 52 after living with motor neurone disease (MND).

Mr Pritchard, 23, and his brother Alfie, 26, co-founded a clothing company named Mile Pie, which gives 25% of its profits to charity, and every year they take turns tackling a new fundraising challenge.

“Alongside that, we do big challenges and with each challenge, we work with a different charity to try and raise as much money as we can,” he told the PA news agency.

He ran a total distance of 104 miles (167km) but faced mental blocks, nose bleeds and experienced “blacked out” vision after completing the challenge, but enjoyed running with “drunk punters”.

“My dad and my brother were (at home) carrying me and I instantly felt really lightheaded and dizzy and a bit nauseous,” he said.

“On the way to the bathroom, I collapsed again, blacked out, and my vision went again, but I carried on and got into the bath for a nice hot bath.”

The co-founder said he felt a sense of pressure deciding on a creative fundraising challenge after his brother ran from John O’Groats, completed the London Marathon and finished his run at Lands End last year.

Mr Pritchard opted to run for 24 hours on a treadmill because he joked “everybody hates going on a treadmill”, but initially considered running on the machine for one week.

“Originally I thought 24 hours wasn’t going to be enough or as impressive, stupidly,” he said.

“I was thinking of trying to run as far as I can in a week on the treadmill to try and break the record, but that is just absolutely ridiculous.

“We decided on 24 hours, and I soon realised how hard that was going to be.”

The idea to take the treadmill to the pub was suggested on a whim by his friends, but he said it was a “really good idea”.

“The thought behind it was all the drunk punters coming in the evening, getting a few beers down them, and chucking a load of cash for charity,” he said.

Aside from the physical and mental challenge of running in place for 24 hours, Mr Pritchard was faced with mechanical issues after the treadmill, which was taken from his old school, was too wide to fit through the pub’s front door.

“We had to take it in half trying to figure out how to do that without breaking it and snapping the wire so it would still run,” he said.

“When I started running, what my school failed to tell me was that the sensor was broken in the treadmill, so it didn’t detect there was a runner on the treadmill.”

Every 90 seconds, the treadmill notified him to press a button so that the machine would continue running.

He ran through the night with support from his brother, father, the pub landlord and landlady, and said the highlight of doing the challenge was hearing members of the public sharing their stories about loved ones impacted by MND.

“Strangers would come up to me on the treadmill and say how inspired and proud they are of me because they’ve got people affected by MND that are close to them, which was so incredible to hear during the run,” he said.

“It’s why we do it. It’s why I put myself through torture for 24 hours, and it is such an incredible feeling to achieve that and raise such a big amount of money.”