Swanage long distance runner George Nix is about to take part in the Paris Marathon – but that’s not the half of it.
After completing the Paris Marathon on Sunday 13th April 2025, two weeks later, he’ll be taking part in the iconic London Marathon – and he’ll spend the time in between not in rest and recuperation, but running between the two capital cities.
George has discovered a passion for long distance running, and is setting off on his biggest adventure yet
Hoping to raise £1,000 for the NHS
Amazingly, he only took up running seriously 18 months ago and has so far only taken part in one standard marathon, which he completed in 4 hours and 20 minutes while carrying a hamstring injury.
His other serious runs have been ultra marathons over a distance of 100 kilometres, but this will be the first time he has tried something so challenging.
And just to make things more difficult for himself, George will be running solo most of the way and carrying all the clothes he’ll need in a 20 litre running pack which he’ll carry with him.
George hopes to raise more than £1,000 for the NHS during his 400 km (250 mile) run and would like to see some of that spent on mental health.
The challenge begins at the Paris Marathon on Sunday 13th April 2025
“Mental health issues have affected so many”
George Nix said:
“I’m raising money for NHS Charities Together, and my understanding is that the money goes in a pot and will be used where it is most needed, but I am hoping to steer some of the money towards mental health charities if possible.
“A big part of the reason I run is the meditative side of it, stress relief, and it made sense to tie my run in with that cause.
“Mental health issues have affected so many people I know in many different ways and have affected me individually too. Running came from a palace of dealing with that, so it’s a way of using what I enjoy to recognise how it helped me and try to give something back.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t access talking therapy on the NHS when I needed it most. Luckily I was able to pay privately, but not everyone is so fortunate, so I’d like to be able to raise at least £1,000 for NHS Charities Together.”
In October 2024, George took part in the Maverick Jurassic Ultra 100 km run
“About a marathon a day”
George added:
“I’ve always enjoyed sports, I played for Swanage Town and Herston football team for a few years and always enjoyed it, but was never the fittest, the strongest or the quickest.
“I’ve been running about 18 months, since October 2023 and went straight in at the deep end with an ultra marathon in July last year – two and a half times the length of a normal marathon.
“It was a bit of an accident – or probably a lack of research on my behalf! – as I decided I wanted to do trail running and didn’t realise there were short distance trail runs, I thought you had to go all in, went for it and absolutely smashed it!
“This latest adventure seemed doable because I’ve done 100 km in a day – and as the route from Paris to London is about 400 km it works out at about a marathon a day, which I should be able to manage.”
Part of L’Avenue Verte, a cycle route between Paris and London
Running the Avenue Verte cycle route
George will follow the Avenue Verte, a cycle route which runs from London to Paris through Normandy to the French port of Dieppe, where he will take the ferry to Newhaven before running on through Sussex to reach London before Sunday 27th April 2025 for his second marathon.
He is hoping to be joined by his brother Henry for part of the route and has thrown out an invitation to anyone else who wants to run part of the route to create some social media content – or just to hunt for the finest croissant in northern France!
George had entered the Paris marathon on the NHS ticket, before his work colleagues at the high performance clothing firm Thrudark in Poole suggested they should all sign up for the London Marathon – and only George got in on the ballot.
As he was already thinking of making the Paris marathon part of a holiday, George looked up the distance between Paris and London and decided to turn the experience into more of a long distance challenge by running from one to the other.
After a 400 km run through Normandy and Sussex, George will finish off by competing in the London Marathon
“My boss is training to climb Everest”
George Nix said:
“I’m surrounded at work by a lot of people who do wild and crazy things, so it doesn’t feel like such a big deal to take on this run.
“My boss is currently training to climb Everest in record time, he and some former veterans are looking to travel from London to Everest base camp in a day and a half, climb to the summit over three days, and be back in the UK all within a week, so that puts my run in the shade!
“My main ambition is to run the Ultra Tour of Mont Blanc in Chamonix one day, which all trail runners look on as the ultimate experience.
“I watched a documentary on it years ago and remember saying I could never do something like that – and now I’m almost in a position to try it.”
Crowds on the Champs Elysees at the Paris Marathon
“Big, bold and wild things”
George added:
“There are lots of people in our community doing amazing things and I wanted to show that people from Swanage often do big, bold and wild things – we’re just not always the best at telling the country about them.
“I hope what I am doing will encourage others, whether it’s to speak up about how they feel or push themselves to try something new.
“I am looking forward to it – I’m not one for crowds, so I want to get the Paris Marathon out of the way and then look forward to running by myself for a bit.
“A lot of people are unsure whether my challenge is amazing, brave, or crazy – it’s probably a mixture of all of them!”
George Nix in Prince Albert Gardens in Swanage, looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime
Further information
- George’s fundraising page is on the NHS Enthuse platform
- More on the Paris Marathon
- Follow the London Marathon
