Stephen Johnson, MD of  Quooker UK, has completed his challenge to walk more than 35 marathons over 31 days of August, in aid of charity Grief Encounter.

Grief Encounter provides free, professional and specialist bereavement support for young people following the death of someone close, working with individuals, families and schools.

Having reached a target of 2million steps by Day 30, which equates to 1,000miles or 1,600km and over 70,000 steps a day, he continued a further 46,300 steps.

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The additional steps were in recognition of 46,300 children facing parental loss each year.

Stephen Johnson chose the charity as he has personal experience of early loss, after his mother Sandra Johnson died when he was only 18 months old.

Commenting on why he chose this particular challenge, Johnson said: “Last year I undertook a million steps in August, for charity, and walked 107,000 steps in a day.

“I’m always challenging myself to do better and I thought I’m going to double it with 2,000,000 steps in the month.

“I had also set up a charitable foundation in my late mother’s name so I wanted to come up with a challenge that would give her memory a spotlight.”

Setting out from San Pedro in Spain, Johnson walked for nine and a half hours each day, along the coast, on his own and without the aid of music for motivation.

“I walked to my own thoughts for 31 days. I wanted to be focused on the challenge. I wanted the walk to be difficult”, he said.

And Johnson admits the task was “exceptionally” difficult, as he suffered from blisters, toenail detachment and shin splints, adding “The most difficult aspects were the longevity of the day and dealing with injuries, whilst not be able to stop. It was exceptionally hard on the body.

“I went into this not realising it would be as physically demanding.  I’d done a lot of training and I was quite shocked at the toll it takes on your body walking 50km, day in, day out, with no recovery.”

He said keeping his focus on children who had suffered a bereavement, kept him going though painful times: “It enabled me to walk on, recognising the pain was less than you would suffer losing a parent. But it was tough, really tough.”

Johnson has already received £39,847 in sponsorship but is calling upon the KBB industry help him raise £50,000 and donations can be made using a dedicated justgiving page.

“I would like to thank everyone for their support, encouragement and donations, it’s been absolutely overwhelming”, Johnson said.

All who donated will be entered into a raffle, with two Quooker models offered as prizes tomorrow and if the winner already has a model they will be reimbursed.

Johnson concluded: “I’m tired, but I’m really happy with the amount we have raised so far.

“I’m going to smash the £50,000 target and having done this challenge, I’m going to work on creating a legacy…and look to raise as much money as I possibly can for children that suffer a parental death. So the story is to be continued.”

In fact, he will be participating in a charity cycle ride from Poland to Belgium at the end of September 2024.