North Tyneside man raises £76k running Newcastle to New York distance in brother’s memory

Conor Macpherson sadly disappeared at sea in Tynemouth in 2018.

To honour his dream of living in New York, his brother Leodhais set off to run 128 marathons in 128 days – raising money for the RNLI who searched for him, and mental health charity If U Care Share Foundation..

Crowds gathered as Leodhais completed the challenge on Conor’s birthday, June 2, in Tynemouth Castle and he has now raised £76,862.

He said: "I thought my original goal of £10k was ambitious, to see the money keep going up was crazy. To know it will help two great charities that will genuinely save lives is incredible.

“What has shocked me more than the money is the amount of people that have been inspired or impacted by what I did and are sharing my story.

"My aim was to honour my brothers life and his dream to live in New York. For everyone to not only be there for me, but for him was pretty special”

Leodhais celebrated by proposing to his girlfriend at the finish line, who he credits for being his biggest supporter throughout.

He added: “Jaimie has been such an integral part to the challenge. When someone gives you 110% when you are doing something like this, it tells you that they are the one. “It was such a nice way to end the journey and turn what is usually a sad day for my family into a joyous day. I think a lot of the tears that were shed were happy tears.”