Nova's Barney Stephenson ran the Manchester Marathon

Nova’s Barney Stephenson ran the Manchester Marathon this weekend – raising more than £1,200 for charity in the process.

Barn was attempting the mammoth run as part of Nova’s partnership with The HEY Smile Foundation who were named as our charity of the year for 2024 back in March.

The plan was to meet a fundraising goal of £1k and then if possible, although he didn’t really admit it beforehand, try to run the 26.2km in less than four hours.

Mercifully, he squeezed through at 3:57.

Speaking just after the race, Barn said:

The last 5km was really hard. My legs started to cramp up and I was getting these really weird twitches down my spine.

I was looking at my watch and I could see it was going to be really tight time wise so I did a sort of exhausted attempt at a sprint over the last 200m.

I’m pleased it’s over but I’m also really pleased I can say I’ve done it and so glad I’ve been able to raise money for such a brilliant charity.

More than 50 people donated to Barn’s fundraiser which raised £1,291.00 for The Hey Smile Foundation.

QUOTE FROM SMILE

Tessa Wray, Head of Partnerships at Smile said “We are absolutely over the moon with Barney’s incredible achievement. Firstly, an amazing time, demonstrating huge determination. And secondly, what a fantastic amount raised. A huge thank you to everyone who donated. We will ensure the funds work hard to support communities across Hull & East Yorkshire.”

Click here for information on our work with The HEY Smile Foundation.