Kinder European Endurance Challenge kicks off today

Nathan Farrugia will today start taking part in 27 consecutive marathons in 27 EU countries over 27 days as part of the Kinder 27 marathons challenge.

The marathon kicks off in Malta and will continue in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, England, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece to end in Cyprus on October 7.

The event, marking the European Year of Volunteering, will see Farrugia covering 8,000 kms in mainland Europe on a camper van that will take him through a different country every day.

He will be flying out to the more distant countries, including Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Spain and the UK.

Each 42.2 km marathon will be run on a specific route in a major city where he will be accompanied by local running clubs as a show of solidarity and to strengthen awareness of the cause – of promoting the value of volunteering and to encourage people to give up some of their time and money to help others.

Farrugia said: “There is no book that can tell you how to physically prepare for such an extreme event so I am using a mix of exercise physiology, nutrition, physiotherapy and extreme endurance knowledge with a pinch of common sense.

“At most I have been running 20 km 12 times a week, morning and evening, so as not to overload the body. Running 42 km straight daily in training might not be a good idea due to the fact I am relatively new to ultra-running, but I have previously built up to a week of 30 km runs back to back without any major problems.

Thankfully, I am supported by a great crew, Ferrero, and by a number of other sponsors and Maltese ambassadors overseas.

“All we need now is to see donations come in. It would be terribly disappointing if we do not raise the funds we have set out to collect.”

All detailed information is available on www.27challenge.com.