Scotland to Thirsk: Six Friends, 500km and £34,000 for Mental Health

At some point, somebody thought running 500 kilometres from Scotland to North Yorkshire would be a good idea.

Not over several weeks, with plenty of recovery time between stages.

Non-stop. Day and night. As a relay.

Six friends, a support team and a rather ambitious plan to get from Ballater in Scotland to Thirsk, all to raise money for the Charlie Dallas Lancaster Foundation.

From 1 to 4 July 2026, that's exactly what we did.

And by the time the challenge was complete, we'd raised more than £34,000 for a charity doing important work around mental health.

It was the biggest challenge we'd taken on as The Hard Mile, and a reminder of just how much people can achieve when they come together around something they believe in.

How did we end up here?

The story actually began with a rowing machine.

In May 2025, our friend Mark Karvounis rowed 41 miles to raise money for CDLF, a Yorkshire charity that had previously supported him.

It was an extraordinary achievement that brought together friends, family and local businesses.

I was involved in supporting the event through Inspire Audio Visual, and watching what Mark accomplished encouraged me to take on a challenge of my own.

Later that year, I completed a 500km cycling and running journey from York to Brighton, raising awareness and funds for CDLF and Together for Cinema.

You can read about the York to Brighton challenge here.

Those experiences helped shape an idea that has since become The Hard Mile.

The principle is fairly straightforward: bring people together, take on difficult physical challenges and use the attention they generate to support others.

Our Scotland to Thirsk relay was the next chapter.

And this time, there were six of us taking on the distance.

Six runners, one shared objective

The team consisted of Ben Davies, Mat Cole, Mark Karvounis, Ashley Rio, Dave Gill and Charlie Richardson.

Different backgrounds, different careers and different reasons for getting involved, but all working towards the same objective.

Between us, we were covering more than 500km from Ballater in Scotland to Thirsk in North Yorkshire.

The challenge would run continuously, including through the night, over approximately 60 hours.

Taking turns meant that no single person had to run the entire distance, but it also meant the team had to keep moving, managing the practicalities of the relay along the way.

The distance alone was considerable.

Add in the lack of a normal night's sleep, the need to keep everyone organised and the responsibility of getting six people across the finish, and it becomes a very different kind of challenge.

It's also the sort of undertaking that depends on far more people than those doing the running.

Supporters, organisers, sponsors and the people helping behind the scenes all contribute to getting a project like this off the ground.

Why we were running for CDLF

The Charlie Dallas Lancaster Foundation was established in memory of Charlie, who sadly lost his life to suicide in 2020.

The foundation continues his legacy by raising awareness of mental health, encouraging conversations and supporting organisations working to help others.

For me, its purpose is particularly personal.

I struggled with my own mental health when I was younger and was fortunate enough to receive therapy that genuinely changed my outlook on life.

It's something I believe everyone should have access to when they need it.

Sometimes the hardest part of asking for help is admitting that you need it in the first place. Having to navigate long waits or uncertainty about where to turn can make an already difficult situation harder.

CDLF helps raise awareness of the services available and directs resources towards organisations supporting people with their mental health.

That is what made the relay worth taking on.

We weren't running because we believed covering hundreds of kilometres would solve somebody else's problems.

We were running to help raise funds, start conversations and keep an important cause in people's minds.

The businesses that helped make it happen

One of the most encouraging parts of the challenge was seeing businesses across Yorkshire and beyond get behind it.

The Hard Mile attracted support from a wide range of local companies, each contributing in different ways.

Way Ahead Fitness came on board as platinum sponsor, with Agriwash UK, Pennygate Developments, Camerons Brewery and a host of other businesses also supporting the event.

Metcalfe Fencing provided logistics sponsorship, while Inspire Audio Visual was involved as the marketing sponsor.

For us at Inspire, it was another opportunity to contribute to a charity we've become increasingly connected with.

We're accustomed to managing complex technical projects in our day-to-day work, but it's rewarding to use the experience and resources available through our business to help something outside the world of smart homes and home cinemas.

The wider group of supporters also demonstrated something worth remembering.

Not every business can contribute in the same way.

Some provide funding. Others contribute equipment, expertise, contacts, organisation or their own time.

When those contributions come together, they can create something much bigger than any one company could manage alone.

More than £34,000 raised

By the time the team reached Thirsk on 4 July 2026, the 500km relay was complete.

The Hard Mile reported a fundraising total of more than £34,700 for CDLF.

It's a substantial amount of money for a local fundraising effort, particularly one that began with a group of friends wanting to make a difference.

And while the fundraising total is something to be proud of, there's another side to the event that I think is equally important.

Challenges like this give people a reason to get together, support one another and talk.

For a group raising awareness of mental health, that sense of connection feels particularly relevant.

We often spend so much of our working lives rushing between responsibilities that it can be easy to lose sight of the value of simply being around people who are prepared to show up for each other.

The relay gave us a very practical example of what that looks like.

Nobody completes a team challenge like this entirely on their own.

What comes after 500km?

The Hard Mile has grown from a series of fundraising events into a collective focused on physical challenges, community and personal development.

The longer-term ambition includes opportunities for young men to spend time outdoors, take on challenges, build friendships and have honest conversations about the things that matter to them.

That's an encouraging direction for something that started with a handful of friends trying to raise money.

For Inspire, our relationship with CDLF continues beyond the fundraising.

Hannah and I have been supporting the foundation through events, and we've also taken on the project management of its new website, helping improve the charity's online presence and make its work easier to discover.

The Scotland to Thirsk relay showed what a community can achieve when people contribute what they can and commit to seeing something through.

Six runners. More than 500 kilometres. Over £34,000 raised.

But the real point of all those miles was the people the money and awareness could help.

Find out more about The Hard Mile or visit the Charlie Dallas Lancaster Foundation to learn about its work and how you can get involved.