Man aiming to run 570km London Underground route in 11 days for charity

Jonny Davies began his above-ground challenge on one of the hottest days of the year.

Jonny Davies aims to run the entire London Underground in 11 days (jikemedia/PA)

A man aiming to run the entire London Underground route above ground in 11 days, covering a distance of 570 kilometres, said the challenge is “really fun” despite the heat.

Jonny Davies, 31, said he was “running station to station along the fastest route possible” and began on one of the hottest days of the year.

His first route was the Northern line, which he followed for about 72 kilometres while trying to stay cool by pouring water over his head.

Mr Davies said the first day was “really fun but very challenging in the sense of the heat, because, you know, 30 degrees in London feels almost like 40 degrees on holiday”.

He said that “because the Northern line splits in so many directions, we had to run a section and get on the Tube and go back to that point and then run the next section”.

“We started with a team up in Edgware and within the first 20 minutes someone had joined me, and then from that point onwards, the whole day I was with various people, either friends or people that follow me and wanted to join me for a run.”

He is running a different Tube line each day, alternating between longer and shorter routes, such as following the long Northern line with the shorter Circle line, and the shorter Victoria line with the longer Piccadilly line.

Mr Davies said he had been training for the challenge for “most of this year”.

He said: “I’ve run a few ultra marathons and other marathons but it was all leading up to do something like this in September, and then I officially started training for this about 20 weeks ago.

“I’ve had the idea in my head for years to do this, or I was looking at other ways of doing something London-based to raise money for mental health charities with regards to running, and this one felt right.”

He has raised more than £3,000 for the mental health charity Calm through his JustGiving fundraiser so far.

The president and general manager of JustGiving, Pascale Harvie, called Mr Davies “an inspiring role model for looking after your physical and mental health”.

She said: “Jonny’s challenge is creative and innovative and not something that I have ever seen before. To run 570km above the London Underground in 11 days is an incredible challenge and everyone at JustGiving is excited to see how he gets on.”

Mr Davies said he is fundraising for Calm because “I think that what they do is incredibly important”.

He added: “We all need a bit of help here and there, whether that’s from friends or from someone else, and I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had great people in my life to help me through difficult times and running is one of those things that helps me.

“Life sometimes throws curveballs at us and makes it very difficult and I think the most important thing is to keep going forward.”

Mr Davies’s fundraising page is at justgiving.com/page/jonny-davies-1692194753702