When you think of champions, I bet many obvious names come to mind. Maybe it’s Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tyson Fury or Roger Federer. All of these names are known worldwide for their amazing achievements in their respective sports.
Here in Cumbria, we don’t have the sort of global megastars that our country is renowned for. Let’s be honest, everyone knows us as ‘that place near Scotland’ or just assumes we’re all Geordies.
But we do have our own community champions: the people within our community who go above and beyond to help and support others.
To me, one instantly springs to mind. He’s a man that you could easily mistaken for a human machine in the best way possible, and I’m proud to say he lives in the same town as me.
That man is Gary McKee. For those who don’t know Gary, he previously completed 100 marathons in 100 days back in 2017, culminating with the London Marathon, and also 110 marathons in 110 days just last year.
This year, he’s completing his biggest challenge yet of running an entire year of marathons, which he started on January 1st. How insane is that! And it’s all for an amazing cause too, with all proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice at Home.
To have someone like this within our community is amazing- I’m running out of superlatives to describe this man.
Alongside his media hype woman Amy Caddy, photographer Elwyn Evans and the many volunteers and fellow runners that follow Gary on a daily basis, Gary isn’t doing this alone, and to the people who have supported Gary, we salute you!
It means a lot to be writing about Gary, as on Day 84 of his 110 marathon feat, he ran in memory of my dad, which was an incredible event to witness, and I eternally thank Gary for doing that.
This man is an incredible, down-to-earth human being, and he’s a Cumbrian community champion through and through.
Keep Hossin On Gary!
You can support Gary on his epic feat here.