A Salford intern and University alumnus is to gearing up to do a 124-mile ultramarathon from Salford in Oxfordshire to Salford in Greater Manchester to raise funds for the mental health charity Mind following the tragic passing of his friend and former course mate.
Alfie Mulligan, 22, Web Content Editor at Salford Now and BA Journalism (Multimedia) alumnus is teaming up with fellow course alumnus Harry Warner, 23, to embark on the epic challenge on Saturday 17 May and Sunday 18 May.
The duo are planning to do the epic run in six 20-mile stints over the two days and hope to raise over £2,500 for charity.
Mind has supported them following the loss of their close friend and fellow course mate, Daniel Sugrue, who passed away in July 2024 at the age of 20.
Alfie said: “It was a massive moment for us to lose someone that we both knew, that went to university with us and who were quite close friends with. It really did impact us and we thought that we just had to do something to give back. You’re always going to feel that you didn’t do enough and so we thought about a challenge to raise some money and awareness about mental health and the work that Mind does. This felt like the best way for us to do something good.”
The duo are no strangers to ultramarathons having previously ran the length of Luxembourg in a day last year and the entire boundary of Salford this February, with both routes in excess of 50km.
Whilst they were drawn to the concept of running Salford-to-Salford as a unique challenge that has never been attempted before, they have increasingly viewed their adventures as an opportunity to openly talk about their own mental health and have bonded over the openness that its provided.
Alfie said: “Running has become a way for me and Harry to deal with our problems. We go out and just talk and reflect on things in our lives. When we did the Salford boundary run, we starting talking and opened up about our problems and that’s been really positive because I believe that people struggle to talk about their mental health quite a lot. But running has certainly helped me open up.”
On Daniel, Alfie calls him a ‘very, very special person.’
He said: “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime person to me. Daniel was always someone who made me feel better, who saw the good in people and was the happiest person in the room. He was someone that always made me feel happy and wanted. If I ever had a problem, he was the person I’d talk to and there’s never going to be another one of him.
“When you find out that your mate’s no longer there, it’s just a massive shock. You just want to talk to him one more time and say ‘What’s going on? Are you ok?’ and you can’t do that. He did all that for me and the fact that I can’t do that for him is painful to know.”
The duo have been training to run at a slower pace in order to make the herculean effort more attainable over the two days.
Alfie added: “We’re used to going out and running 10k at a sprint so we’ve been really focusing on slowing the pace down. We’d obviously like to finish in two days and that would be quite nice but I think the focus for us is to pace ourselves properly and not think about trying to run it as quickly as possible.”
He’s proposing to offer up his phone number throughout the second day of running, asking people to ring to help motivate him during the challenge and will donate £5 for every call he receives. The duo will also donate 10% of the funds raised to Salford University Boat Club – which Alfie and Harry were both part of as students.
Alfie will also immortalise the challenge by getting a tattoo of the route inked in on his leg after having tattoos drawn for the previous challenges in Luxembourg and Salford.
According to Mind, one in four people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England. One in five people have suicidal thoughts and men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
To donate to Alfie and Harry’s challenge, you can support them on their Justgiving page.
