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WATCH: Malta-Based Athlete Completes 1,266-Kilometre Marathon Challenge To Raise Funds For Puttinu Cares

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Malta-based Scottish athlete Drew Lang has completed a grueling 1,266-kilometre running challenge in which he ran 30 marathons in 30 days to raise funds for children battling cancer. 

Lang, 55, ran 42.2 kilometres every day last month in a challenge inspired by his wife’s own battle with the disease.

“I couldn’t sleep last night. It’s all starting to sink in,” he told Lovin Malta after having made Maltese sporting history. 

He said he was especially proud of having managed to complete the challenge despite not being a marathon runner. “When I was a champion runner I was running in the 5-10 kilometre range…I’m proud because not everyone believed I could do it since I wasn’t an experienced marathon runner.” 

Besides raising money for Puttinu Cares, Lang said he also wanted to inspire others to become more active. “The atmosphere was great throughout. It was really great having people come and join in and run with me and tell me that I’ve inspired them. That’s what it’s all about, a real win-win situation.”

Asked how much he’s managed to collect from the challenge, Lang said it was too early to tell since some people had donated directly to Puttinu Cares but he said he hoped it would be somewhere in the region of €30,000. 

Lang is a seasoned runner, having won the Gozo half-marathon eleven times – seven of which came on consecutive years. He has also represented Malta in international running competitions, but this challenge was by far his hardest. 

“At my peak, I was running 200 kilometres a week,” he said of his training regimen. 

Asked whether at any point he had doubted whether he’d manage to finish, Lang said he did. “That’s why it was a challenge,” he said, adding that he had never run such a challenge in the past. 

The inspiration behind Lang’s feat was his wife’s own cancer diagnosis back in 2011. “I would go with her to the hospital for treatment and I’d see other patients there all battling the disease. I decided I wanted to do something to help.” 

The challenge was originally meant to take place in 2012 but plans had to be shelved. Then COVID-19 came about and Lang found himself with more time on his hands. 

“I told my wife, this would be the ideal time to train for the challenge and that’s what I did.”

Lang, who in 2018 started the 5K Fitness Challenge, has now earned a well-deserved break as he starts his road to recovery. 

The challenge is an event organized and held each Saturday and is motivating beginners to start running under his guidance in order to improve their fitness while also setting their own challenge.

“I’m going to take a month off. No running for a month,” he said. Though, he said, he’ll still do some cycling to keep active. 

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Yannick joined Lovin Malta in March 2021 having started out in journalism in 2016. He is passionate about politics and the way our society is governed, and anything to do with numbers and graphs. He likes dogs more than he does people.

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