Peterborough man to run 100 miles for charity of paralysed survivor of Manchester Arena bombings

A Peterborough man is running an ultra-marathon to raise money for a charity set up by the closest survivor of the Manchester Arena bombings.

Del Dunworth, 28, of Yaxley, will run an ultra-marathon called the Centurion Running Thames Path 100 (TP100) on May 7 this year.

The eleventh annual TP100 ultra-marathon is a 100-mile continuous run which starts in Richmond, in South West London, and finishes in the centre of Oxford.

Del is raising money for Martin's Mountain - a charity set up by Martin Hibbert who suffered life-changing injuries in the Manchester Arena bombings, which killed 22 people and injured 800, on May 22, 2017.

Mr Hibbert survived the explosion but sustained 22 shrapnel wounds and was left paralysed from the waist down.

Del, who was deployed overseas at the time of the Manchester bombings, worked in a specialist combat role for seven years - where he would clear mines.

He said: "I remember hearing about the incident and when you are a soldier and you hear of something like that which has happened back home it’s hard to swallow because I’ve had friends who have died from bombings before in the army, but never people back home."

“I’m doing it to support people like Martin who have spinal cord injuries so they can get better treatment, better diagnosis and better care moving forward because it's a lifetime injury,” he said.

Del’s 100-mile ultra-marathon is part of the #My19 Challenge - a fundraising challenge in which anyone can create a page to contribute towards the £1million Hibbert hopes to raise for the Spinal Injuries Association.

Now the 28-year-old is currently a senior product specialist for Coloplast Ltd, in Peterborough, which develops products and services to make life easier for people suffering with medical conditions.

“When we announced that our chosen charity for the year was going to be Martin's Mountain, because of the work we do with spinal injuries, I thought why not raise money for that and make it a bit less about myself and more about raising money and awareness for the people who we support,” he said.

Del began fundraising for his younger brother Rico, who survived contracting Meningitis B back in 2016.

He was only eight years old when he had to have his right foot below the ankle and part of his left foot amputated after being put into an induced coma for five days.

“That was what started it off for me," he said. "I did 100km along the south coast. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but because I knew I was running for him and he would be waiting at the finish line it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be because it was almost like I had a magnet pulling me from the start to the finish.

“I know it will be exactly the same when I set off on May 7. It will be a personal achievement but it will be overlooked by the bigger picture of what I’m doing it for. That will be the magnet that keeps me going.”

If you would like to support Del in raising money and awareness for Martins Mountain and the Spinal Injuries Association, you can donate to his Just Giving page by clicking here.