By his own admission, Tyler Goldsmith has never been good at running. But he does like a challenge, so during August he attempted to run 10km every day. Not only did he succeed, but he raised almost £1,500 for St Wilfrid’s Hospice. We spoke to him to find out more about his unusual challenge.

“I’ve always known about St Wilfrid’s. My grandma Jean died there when I was very young, then a few years later my godmother Val did too, both at the old hospice site in Mill Gap Road. Fast forward to 2022 and my Uncle Shane was admitted to the current hospice, and I remember it very clearly.

End of life is a stressful and horrible time for the patient and their family, but the hospice is so calm when you walk in that you don’t really feel like it’s a medical environment. It’s wonderful that every room overlooks a garden and beds can be wheeled out into them. The hospice is such a tranquil place and the staff are very friendly.

That’s why I decided to take on a challenge to raise money and say thank you for the care that my loved ones received.

I’ve always been into sports but have never been good at running so I wanted to test myself. I decided to run 10km for the 31 days of August, and set a target of £500 – which I reached before the fundraiser even began.

Running every day was definitely a challenge, especially as it turned out to be the hottest month of the year. I’m an early riser so I’d do the run for about an hour first thing and was then back home ready for my day to begin.

I received a lot of support and friends messaged me throughout the challenge to say they’d like to join me on a run. Sometimes my parents would cycle alongside me for company, and I really appreciated everyone coming together for a shared purpose.

On the last day, which was Bank Holiday Monday, 10 of us got together to run from Hove to Brighton Marina and back. That all helped me raise £1,435, and people donated who I haven’t spoken to in years, and even some that I’ve never met. I’m grateful to them all.

Looking back, I wonder how I found the time to run like that every day, but raising money to keep hospices going is super important and I’m so glad I did something to help.”

Pictured: Tyler on one of his runs, Grandma Jean on her wedding day, godmother Val, Uncle Shane, and presenting his cheque to Megan from our Fundraising Team.

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