Lancaster teachers take on gruelling Cotswold Way Challenge to raise money for cancer charity close to their hearts

Dan Morris and Nick Houghton, both 38, will take on the Cotswold Way Challenge in April to raise money for a bowel cancer charity founded after Dan’s brother-in-law died of the disease aged just 33.

Dan and Nick became friends when teaching at Bowerham Primary School. Nick still works there while Dan has recently become a supply teacher in Preston.

“We’re both keen hill walkers and mountaineers and have always wanted to do a challenge together,” said Dan.

Both have previously completed the Coast to Coast route and Nick has also run a few marathons.

Nick suggested that they could run the Cotswold Way in three days, to make it more of a challenge and reflect some of the discomfort and hardship faced by bowel cancer sufferers, so the pair will attempt to run 37 miles a day from April 9-11.

The gruelling route from Chipping Campden to Bath also includes 4,000m of ascent.

“I’ve never run such a distance in my life and am just hoping my knees will hold up as I’ve had surgery on them in the past,” said Dan.

The friends are currently in training three times a week locally, doing hill runs, speed sessions and long runs.

“Teaching is a full-on profession so it’s hard to fit in all the training we’ll need,” Dan said.

However, he has a particularly special reason to succeed in memory of his brother-in-law, Benj Millard, who was fit and healthy until he received a bowel cancer diagnosis in September 2018. He died less than eight months later.

Dan’s wife, Abby, a lecturer in public health at Lancaster University, founded the Bowel Movement charity with her mum and sister, in memory of Benj who lived in Somerset.

Described as a small charity on a big mission, the Bowel Movement’s main aims are to increase awareness and education about bowel cancer especially among the under 50s and to support patients by providing equipment, facilities and services to help their treatment.

The charity also exists to provide relief to sufferers, their carers and families who might be disadvantaged due to ill health or financial hardship as a result of a bowel cancer diagnosis.

Dan and Nick want to raise at least £2,000 which is the current grant given to bowel cancer sufferers facing such hardship.

Benj was one of more than 2,600 people under 50 who are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year. It is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and it accounts for the second highest number of cancer related deaths annually yet is highly treatable and curable if caught early.

“I’ll be thinking of Benj all the time during the run and when I’m in any discomfort, he will be my inspiration to carry on,” said Dan.

Anyone who wishes to donate to Dan and Nick’s gruelling Cotswold Way Challenge can do so at https://www.justgiving.com/page/dan-nick-1706735292915