LARNE Academy coach John Simpson and Under-20’s player Ethan Simpson have completed the 4 x 4 x 48 challenge to raise money for local mental health charity Extern.
John coaches the 2012 year group in the Academy and is a Mental Health Champion for the club. John and Ethan (pictured) began the challenge on Sunday morning, with the pair running four miles, every four hours for a staggering 48 hours.
Larne Football Club have a strong relationship with Extern and have supported several of their campaigns over the last year to help local people within our community.
On World Mental Health day, in October last year, we welcomed Extern Carrick and Larne to Inver Park to help promote mental health and raising awareness of the dangers surrounding it.
On this challenge, John said: “I believe that the pandemic has affected many people, not just physically but also mentally, and there are many people in the community that require support. Ethan and I have decided to try to take a positive out of the current situation and raise funds for Extern to support local families and individuals during these challenging times.
“During the challenge, the first few runs went fine albeit in the wind and rain, but the challenge became harder as the midnight and 4am runs approached as you don’t get the time to rest properly.
“Going into the second day of the challenge, the fatigue was starting to set in from the late night and early morning runs but the weather was good to us and the final few runs were done along the coast.”
You can donate to John and Ethan’s fundraising cause via the following link: https://www.extern.org/fundraisers/4x4x48-support-the-community
