TWO friends from Bristol were going to tackle an ultramarathon challenging their resilience and determination across the Offa’s Dyke path.

We spoke to Ollie Samuel to hear his perspective of the journey.

Ollie who was hospitalised with his third round of Pancreatitis leaving him unable to participate in the challenge so he is sharing his support every step of the way whilst Alex Wilson took to the path solo.

Having completed many challenges in the past including a cycle to France and back for Cancer Research, they decided to go even further and tackle a difficult challenge for a charity which hits close to home.

Ollie’s step grandfather suffered from dementia and he witnessed the impact it had on his wife, sharing how Dementia UK offer support for families, including giving advice and helping people through a difficult process.

The company Ollie works for, called The Access Group, who chose Dementia UK as their charity of the year, have agreed to double the match they raise.

Ollie adds the group have been very supportive from the training to the actual time off to do the challenge and with his illness they have been very kind.

In preparation for the ultramarathon, Ollie confirms there is a lot of physical preparation people must take, to be fit to participate.

He was completing several runs a day, including one day training where he did a half marathon in the morning and then went about his day, and another half marathon in the evening in Bristol.

He spoke on the importance of strength training to make sure your muscles can handle the challenge.

One of the most important steps is to ensure you are fuelling your body with nutrients it needs and eating well.

They looked at the routes beforehand to see where they stop, and their were certain areas on the journey where there were no shops or anything around.

The final part of the preparation, was to ensure the kit and making sure we pack the right thing as weather can be very predictable, lots of pairs of trainers so can swap them out, nutrition and eating the right number of calories.

I think one thing is there's plenty of opportunities out there, people think it is an unusual challenge to do.

“This time last year I couldn’t even run 5k.”

“I will be incredibly proud because it could have been very easy for him to turn around and say if you can’t do it I will postpone it,” said Ollie.

“From the conversation I had with him the other day I know how hard he is finding it, so I think him completing it will be an incredible experience for him and a really good life lesson because you won’t not come out of this not learning and knowing more about yourself, what you want to be as a person.”

“I am very proud of what we have achieved, I am disappointed I can’t be there on the journey, but I am doing as much as I can to support him.