As part of his 5in50 challenge, a former soldier and father is coming to Dorset to start his marathon attempt, which he hopes will raise money for a girl diagnosed with the world's rarest disease.

Darren Hardy, 38 and from Fleet, will start his challenge from Poole tomorrow (Friday) and run along the coast to Abbotsbury before turning back to Poole.

He is on a mission to run five marathons in 50 hours, continuously without sleeping, carrying everything he needs in a backpack.

Darren was inspired to take on the challenge when he heard about schoolgirl, Aggie Candy-Waters, a 12-year-old who was diagnosed with H-ABC, the world's rarest brain disease when she was five.

Aggie who used to run, play and sing is permanently in a wheelchair and is rapidly losing her fine motor skills - meaning she is fed, dressed and carried by her parents, and is losing her ability to speak.

Darren said: "My daughters are two and four and enjoying all the things I know Aggie used to. I can't imagine the absolute heartbreak that Aggie's parents will have gone through learning their beautiful, happy girl was going to decline in this way.

"I immediately got in touch and asked how I could help. It was then that I learned that we could race against time to reach their £1m target to get new life-saving gene therapy developed at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for not only Aggie, but for two more young children called Frankie, age five and Sofia, nine.

"This was when I came up with the idea of running five marathons in 50 hours, with every penny going towards gene therapy treatment for children with H-ABC; 5in50."

Darren, a double gold medallist and Warrior Games record breaker completed numerous extreme sports challenges for charity in 2020, raising £24,000. 5in50 is up there with the toughest.

"I'm preparing for the run by getting up at 4:20 every day at home and hitting the hills, as well as strength work in my home gym", added Darren. "I'm calling on my sleep deprivation training from the military to help me keep awake, and the energy provided from Resilient Nutrition."

Darren would also like to thank Resilient Nutrition and Osprey for their support in making this challenge possible.

To support Darren and donate, visit justgiving.com

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