Global Sport Stories

“Complete, not compete.” A term used by Leodhais Macpherson when setting out his aims prior to running 128 marathons in 128 days – the distance equivalent from Newcastle, in the Northeast of England, to New York City, USA.

Yes, you read that right, 128 marathons in as many days. 

The project, dubbed ‘Newcastle to New York’ got underway on the 25th of January, with Leodhais now impressively well over the halfway mark.

Now, to undertake the small task of running over 5,376 kilometres over 128 days, leaves the majority of us with a plethora of questions. Why are you doing this? Why Newcastle to New York? Do you think it is actually possible? Fascinated by everything to do with this audacious challenge, Leo was kind enough to sit down with me and shed some light on to all the questions embarking on a project like this creates… 

Leodhais, 24, hailing from Tynemouth in North Tyneside, is completing the project in remembrance of his brother, Conor, who sadly took his own life in 2019. Leo describes how throughout their upbringing that was “nothing out of the ordinary,” Conor adopted the calm and creative genes, in stark contrast to Leo’s self proclaimed “manic” nature. Whilst Leo couldn’t sit still and adopted competitive running as a result, Conor acquired a strong affinity for New York City, visiting eight times as a result and leading to aspirations to live there in the future.

The distance from the brothers’ home city of Newcastle to Conor’s dream living location, represents 128 marathons – which Leo deemed a challenging yet achievable distance to run in 128 days. Via channeling his energy into this project, Leo aims to raise awareness of the risks that suicide poses to every family by raising money for the charities “If U Care Share” and the RNLI, all whilst maintaining the memory of his beloved brother. 

Although armed with all the motivation needed to complete the challenge, there is no denying running two marathons in two days represents a huge physical challenge… let alone 128! This led to my next question as to whether Leo truly believed the challenge was achievable, to which the answer should have been more than expected.

“I wouldn’t have set myself this target if I didn’t think I could do it,” explained Leo enthusiastically. “My parents think it’s mental and my friends think it’s daft but I’ll get through it day by day; I don’t think there’s any chance that I won’t finish it.” 

Despite having never ran an ultra marathon (a distance greater than 42 kilometres) or a multi stage running event, Leo has been an avid runner since the age of 10 – predominantly competing in the 800 or 1,500 metres throughout his school days. This experience has provided Leo with a terrific athletic grounding, which will be utilised to push the boundaries of any sort of comfort zone he possesses.

Helping him to do this, aside from vicious self belief, is the wisdom of others who have achieved similar feats to him beforehand. Drawing on experiences of Australian, Ned Brockman, a man who ran across the whole of Australia, Leo explains: “A bit of naivety is probably quite good,” as he draws similarities between his and Brockman’s runs. 

“I didn’t really think about the task at hand too much, so I hope my naivety is a little bit of a blessing, as Ned said it was for him.” 

Another inspiration is James Cooper, who completed 366 marathons in 366 days. Conversations with these fellow incredible athletes have provided critical insight into how Leo may be feeling, along with any advice he could use along the way.

“What I’ve taken from looking at these other challenges is that you can do anything for a minute. If I’m running and I’m thinking this is really, really horrific and I want this to end, just do another minute. I think the running is going to represent life a little bit,” he goes on: “ if you have a bad day you just get through it and tomorrow is a new day.” 

Of course, like with any endurance event, physical preparation is key. Although having always had the idea of crafting an event in memory of his brother, the ‘Newcastle to New York’ concept only came into fruition in October 2024. With only three full months of training to prepare for the mammoth task ahead, some may view this as a potential threat to success. Not Leo though. Fresh from finishing a training block to improve his 5 kilometre run time at the end of October, Leo states how he just had to tailor his training to focus more on the miles than the minutes.

In preparation for the project’s onset, Leo found himself running as many as 105 miles in his heaviest week. And it was at this point that he again alludes back to a positive form of naivety, ultimately questioning, when will he ever feel ready to start the challenge? 

“If I am running 100 miles a week, I may as well start the challenge,” explains Leo, as he goes on to say how: “I didn’t want to wreck myself too much before starting the 128 days.”

So with physical preparations as complete as they could be, I wanted to delve into Leo’s diet; what was going to fuel him throughout his journey into the unknown? The answer: “Eat loads of crap and not feel guilty about it.”

Of course this must be taken with a pinch of salt, and it must be pointed out that Leo’s main fuel will be based around plenty of whole foods to aid recovery. The reason why Leo jokes about eating lots of junk is in an attempt to simply provide his body with enough calories to power his project. 

Leo’s daily calorie intake, prior to January 25th, was around the 4,000 mark – leaving him between 1,500 and 2,000 calories short of what he believes he needs to be consuming. Therefore, alongside the obligatory dried fruit and nuts, Leo explained how he will be partial to a few cream cakes and boxes of jaffa cakes to help him reach his targets. Even shots of olive oil were suggested to him by friends, but even Leo didn’t seem sure he wanted to go that far in his quest for calorific conquering. 

Now, if perhaps this challenge all seems very alien to you, which is more than understood if so, it is important to stress the fact that, despite clearly being a superhuman, Leo views himself as an ordinary guy. He explains how he actually anticipated the running being the easy bit, but what may get forgotten about is the cost it takes to sufficiently fuel his body and the time taken to both run and eat, all whilst working a full time job.

“Work knows I am doing this and have been very supportive,” says Leo, who explains how he is able to work from home 90% of the time. 

“I am fortunate in that sense as I can be slightly flexible in my working. I can cover my legs in deep heat or roll some golf balls underneath my feet whilst at my desk, which maybe would have gotten me some funny looks if I was in the office!”

Leo will be doing all he can to, in his words: “Complete not compete,” the challenge. There are no records on the line, no target time to complete each day’s run, it’s simply about the distance achieved at the end of the 128 days. This means that should there be some horrible weather conditions, Leo will simply get himself on the nearest treadmill. Should 26 miles in one go prove overly taxing, Leo will complete half in the morning and half in the evening.

Sure in the fact that there will be several other little tricks of the trade to make the mileage more manageable, Leo looks ahead to the possible emotions he may experience upon the conclusion of ‘Newcastle to New York.’

Planning to finish the run on the Tynemouth coast, on what will be his brother’s birthday, Leo admits: “I can feel myself welling up just thinking about it.”

“I think there will be a lot of mixed emotions,” he continues. “To finish the challenge on that day will be hard, with a lot of memories brought back to life. But ultimately I’m envisioning plenty of tears, plenty of laughs and plenty of smiles.”

“I think I’ll be proud of this challenge, and probably take a little bit of a break from running; get back in the gym, do a little travelling, just enjoy life really.”

***

The highly committed, heavily motivated, genuine nature that was so apparent Leo possessed throughout our conversation continues to drive Leo towards the ever nearing finishing line.

At the point of writing, Leo is 93 days into his challenge – with the best way to reflect and stay up to date with his progress by following his Instagram account @ncl_to_nyc.

Go well Leo and we’ll see you at the finishing line!