Running man to attempt marathon on The London Eye

In a bid to run 223 marathons in ten years, Noel Bresland is mixing things up yet again by running one in a capsule in The London Eye.

The 38-year-old, from Manchester, is running the marathons in memory of his nephew who died in 2007 after being born prematurely. He contracted MRSA which later left a battle with pneumonia impossible to defeat.

Noel is no stranger to unique marathon attempts, completing one in the North Pole and prepping by running on a tread mill at –28 degrees in a giant freezer.

This time Noel is staying a little closer to home and, on April 5, will be running a marathon in a pod in The London Eye, aiming to take around four hours.

The idea came from Ethan’s twin sister, Erin, now four. 

Noel said: “When I did the London Marathon last year we went to the London Eye. 

“When we went into the carousel Erin said that the pods looked like “Ethan’s Bed”.

“After seeing photos of her brother in an incubator, she had pointed out the likeness between the two.This set the thought process going it was going to take a long time to organise; it took eight months to do it.”

Noel will be running the marathon on a treadmill which will be placed in a capsule of the famous London attraction

In 2007, Noel’s sister gave birth to two children 15 weeks premature. Ethan died after 223 days, which gave Noel the idea to complete 223 marathons and raise £223,000 for charity.

The money raised will go to two charities, Bliss, which provides support for families with premature and sick babies across the UK who helped his family and Children with Leukaemia, a charity he has supported for some time.

The marathons will take 10 years to complete working out to one every two weeks. 

After 18-months of injury, he reset the clock and Noel now has completed 28 marathons since 2009.

Noel added: “I set myself a target when I was fit I would do something, and I said that I would restart the clock.”

Noel will also be completing the London Marathon on April 17, running in a Little Miss Naughty costume.

Running with a team from Children with Leukaemia charity he will be trying to break the record for the fastest marathon speed for a book character, which currently stands with Sherlock Holmes.

Karla Hancock