A MARATHON is the longest distance running event in the Olympic Games – 42km or 26 miles - and something only a certain amount of people have ever managed to complete.

Earlier today, rugby league player, Kevin Sinfield completed his seventh marathon in just as many days and raised over £1 million in the process.

An Ealing man however, just a month ago managed to run 18 marathons in 18 days.

Fin Hampton, 23, had completed 13 marathons over the years prior to the first national lockdown in March.

He told Nub News: "During the first lockdown I wanted to do something that would motivate people to try something they couldn't think they could do, so I set myself a challenge of running five marathons in five days."

He completed that challenge and when the second lockdown came rolling around in November, the University of West London (UWL) student set himself a challenge of 30 marathons in 30 days.

His body however had other ideas and on his 19th consecutive run, he got a really bad hip pain that immobilised him.

"The pain was excruciating, I couldn't even walk.

"I'm at peace with myself though, I did a lot more than I thought was ever possible, I ran 18 marathons, I'm more than happy with that," he added.

The 23-year-old wants to normalise running long distance and to make it easier for others to think they can do it too.

He said: "I don't think it's such a big deal, everyone can do it once they put their mind to it and work towards it, one of my housemates just ran his first marathon the other day.

"I don't consider myself a proper runner, I don't train religiously, but over time and with belief, I've ran distances I never thought I could."

Hampton, who lives in South Ealing flew out to Rome last year and ran a marathon on the same day and then flew back to London, in time for a night out.

The Public Health UWL student ran 110 miles in 24 hours in June and has even bigger plans for the future.

These include running around the entire coastline of England, which is around 2,800 miles and would take him 70 days if he managed to run 40 miles a day.