Amid the rising coronavirus cases across the globe, Scottish javelin record-holder James Campbell has succeeded in raising thousands of pounds for the NHS by completing a marathon in his six-metre-long back garden.
Campbell posted a tweet on Monday (March 30) saying he would run a marathon in his garden should the post get more than 10,000 retweets. The tweet went viral within no time and Campbell marked his 32nd birthday on Wednesday (April 1) by doing shuttle runs of the his back garden.
Everyone who retweeted, everyone who’s been so supportive & donated, I’m blown away by the response & can’t thank you enough. Can’t believe the amount of money raised! Over £20k so far. Please keep donating for our NHS! @NHSuk @JustGiving @VincoSport https://t.co/NxEDEi34pA pic.twitter.com/y7RYJCXfSN
— James Campbell (@jcampbell0104) April 1, 2020
Vinco Sport live streamed his marathon and commentary was done by the likes of Katharine Merry, Rob Walker and Alex Seftel. People from different parts of the world watched the live stream and sent messages of support to Campbell.
Notably, spending time in the garden is restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic but Campbell did this in order to raise money for the NHS, which was called “such an important treasure” by the star athlete.
Campbell has a javelin PB of 80.38m and he competed for Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He had initially set a fundraising target of GBP 10,000 and a time goal of 6.5 hours and he succeeded in raising GBP 26,200.00 during the challenge. Campbell also managed to complete the marathon in just over five hours.
“I started choking up a bit a minute ago,” said an emotional Campbell, speaking on the Vinco Sport live stream.
“That’s unbelievable. The amount of money it has raised, it’s incredible. I can’t say thank you enough, really. An absolutely incredible response. Hopefully it will make a bit of a difference,” he added.
Campbell also played football as a youngster and started playing football again after his retirement from athletics due to injury, added: “My athletics career didn’t really end as planned so this tops that by quite a way, I think.”
