Two British friends living in Antibes completed a 1,800 kilometre run from London to Nice on Tuesday, finishing their month-long endurance challenge on the Promenade des Anglais in aid of the Ligue contre le Cancer des Alpes-Maritimes.
Oscar Glenister and Seb Harris set off from Maidenhead on June 22, covering around 60 kilometres a day through Lille, Paris, Lyon and Aix-en-Provence before completing the final leg into Nice in the middle of the current heatwave. The challenge is deeply personal for both men: Oscar lost his father to prostate cancer five years ago, while Seb's father continues to live with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
The pair, friends since childhood tennis rivals turned housemates near Nice, had previously run 481km from Los Angeles to Las Vegas as part of the Speed Project, but described this as a challenge on an entirely different scale.
Aline Baratoux, director general of the Alpes-Maritimes cancer league committee, welcomed the initiative. "It's good that young people do this," she said. "One of them lost his father, the other had his father fall ill. This is their way of channelling what they've been through, and the fund they've raised will go to our committee supporting patients and their carers in the department." The pair have raised more than 7,000 euros so far, with donations still open online.