Local Freemason completes 200-mile Charity Challenge !
Brother Guy Smith, currently Worshipful Master of Oriental Lodge Number 9371, which meets at Byker Masonic Hall, took on 200-mile run for charity in memory of a mother lost to Alzheimer’s.
Guy visited every Masonic Temple in Northumberland as part of the journey, raising funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
He said: "I’ve mapped it at around 197 miles, but with fatigue, navigation challenges, and the inevitable detours, it will break the 200-mile mark.
"I’ll be running through day and night, grabbing power naps where I can.
"It’s going to be tough, but I know why I’m doing it."
A seasoned ultramarathon runner, Guy set off from Berwick Masonic Hall on Monday, September 2, immediately after attending a lodge meeting.
He travelled down the Northumberland coast, through North Tyneside and the Tyne Valley, before finishing in Haltwhistle.
His long-distance running began more than 20 years ago when he completed the Great North Run to raise funds for the Children’s Heart Unit Fund in memory of a friend.
Since then, he has completed numerous marathons and ultramarathons, including the 100-mile Castle-to-Castle race from Bamburgh to Edinburgh.
This latest challenge is especially personal.
In January, he lost his mother to Alzheimer’s, a disease affecting nearly one million people in the UK.
He said: "Mum touched so many lives and losing her so quickly to Alzheimer’s was devastating.
"Anyone who has witnessed it knows how cruel it is.
"That’s why I’ve chosen Alzheimer’s Research UK as the beneficiary of this challenge.
"My fundraising target is £3,000, and I’ve already raised nearly £5,000."
He completed the route in just four days, then joined thousands of others in the Great North Run the following day.
Guy said: "It might sound mad, but running has given me purpose, better health, and a way to give back.
"This is about honouring Mum, raising awareness, and hopefully inspiring others to push themselves for a cause they care about."
Guy says; "It's now just over one week since I completed the 207-mile Temple Run challenge. On reflection it was an incredible experience from start to finish. The help and support from Freemasons within our province and also that of Durham has been amazing. To be able to do such a challenge and raise vital funds for the Alzheimer's Society has been an absolute pleasure and I'm happy to announce that currently my sponsorship stands at £10,918 and still rising. None of this would have been possible without all of your help and support. Either through your kind donations, or by showing your support through words of encouragement and even meeting me on my journey from Temple to Temple. Not to mention my fantastic wife, who had the hardest job of all - leapfrogging me on my journey with very little sleep herself, and what sleep she did manage to get was also sat in the car behind the steering wheel. She made absolutely sure that I had all the provisions I needed to sustain me during the event, and if I didn't have what I needed she'd pop to the shops to get it. She is really the unsung hero who helped me from the initial idea to promoting it and with non-stop help during the run itself. She was always there without complaint and was probably worried sick at times.
I’d like to thank the officers and Brethren of St David’s Lodge Number 393 for allowing me to almost hijack their regular meeting and also dress inappropriately in the lodge room.
Huge thanks go out to Graeme Butterfield for his tremendous Flapjacks which should go on sale throughout the province. They’re absolutely awesome and worthy of the title “catnip for adults”. I certainly couldn’t get enough.
Jeff Ross for the "ahhh that hit the spot" Greggs breakfast at Ashington. Even though I ate it in front of Slimming World.
David Armstrong and his wife for coming out of their house and cheering me on as I went past and also offering me advice on the best route to Bedlington.
Terry Christie who was at the start and had a huge part in the finish. He looked after my family when they’d have been sleeping in their cars while things took a little longer than expected and not to mention organising a whole welcome party for me which I missed, as well as a full English breakfast back at the Manor House when all was done.
Absolutely everyone who turned up at the Temples and gave me words of encouragement and most importantly made me laugh. It made it all truly memorable.
One of the absolute highlights of the run was when I turned up at Cramlington Masonic Hall to find that not only my wife was there waiting for me, but also a number of masons, a few of my very close friends, my two sons and their partners as well as my beautiful 2 year old granddaughter. I really didn’t want to leave. My Dad also made a number of appearances on the route too. At 89 years young it was fantastic to see him and my sister at many of the Masonic centres.
There were ups and downs on the run which ended up taking me from 9pm on Tuesday 2nd September, until 6am on Sunday 7th September.
Four hours later I’d have to be on the start line for my 25th Great North Run. In all that time I’d collectively managed to get around eight hours' sleep, grabbing power naps here and there in the front of the car, cramped and uncomfortable. The rest of the time was running or walking.
For those who don’t know what went wrong at the end, my Garmin watch had plotted me a course on what I thought was a cycle track through the forest. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and I was crawling through swamps, thorns and nettles five feet high, falling into ditches and not to mention forcing my way through brambles and tightly clustered pine trees. There wasn’t a part of my body that wasn’t stung or scratched and light was fading fast. The real path may have been twenty feet away from me and I wouldn’t have been able to see it. My phone battery was also down to six per cent, which meant I didn’t have much time to act. It had taken me over an hour to heave myself less than one mile. I had to ring my wife who was skirting the forest on a single track road. I got her to sound her horn. Nothing absolutely nothing. I asked her to flash her lights. Again nothing. I told her that I’d stick to the route like glue and she must try and drive to a point where her track crosses my path. It seemed like hours. I eventually thought I heard tyres on gravel. I quickly rang her and asked her to stop and sound her horn. A faint noise in the distance was all I had to work off and I set off in search of her. I eventually spotted the roof of her car over a huge swampland. I had to lodge through it, there was no other way.
On meeting back up with her I quickly undressed and scrubbed my skin to stop the nettle stings. I popped my phone onto charge and grabbed some food, changed into fresh clean clothes and started down the track to get back to the main road. Knowing that instead of finishing at around 10pm this could potentially mean another night of running.
The Military Road went on and on. I actually fell asleep while running several times and not to mention hallucinating and hearing voices. Police cars flying past me with their lights blazing - I’m still not sure if they were real or not. There was no sound just lights and fast moving cars.
The WhatsApp and Facebook groups were going crazy with people’s concerns and excitement really. The tracker system worked well but the dense forest had interfered a little and I think when people spotted that I seemed to be heading in the total wrong direction it certainly got interesting.
Thanks again to everyone for your kindness, generosity and brotherhood, not to mention everyone who showed up and helped out. More especially my family for putting up with my crazy ideas. This has become bigger than I ever expected making it a glorious triumph for the whole Province and a fantastic tribute to my late Mum.
My Gofundme page https://gofund.me/736be1644 will remain open until the end of this month as people have pledged me donations and want to make them at Lodge Meetings etc. It’s not too late to make a small donation.
Together we have made a huge difference."
Guy's run has also had coverage in the national online magazine 'Freemasonry Today' (FMT) here
UPDATE: Guy's sponsorship now stands at £11,025 and still rising ! It's not too late to donate at his Gofundme page;
Above: a short video from Terry Christie of Guy at the finish of his run, enjoying a cold refreshing drink and thanking people for supporting him.
