The long-distance runner who ran to every capital in the UK and Ireland in just 11 days

A long-distance runner who ran to every capital in the UK and Ireland within 11 days, covering a distance of 960km (596 miles), said he faced some physical challenges and urged people to “just keep going”.

Jonny Davies, 32, told the PA news agency he experienced severe pain in his feet and ankles from the first day and often only got four hours of sleep but he pushed through and completed the challenge anyway.

He started out in Edinburgh before getting a ferry to Northern Ireland and running to Belfast, then on to Dublin before getting a boat to Wales to run to Cardiff and finally to London, completing his challenge on October 23.

He said he completed the challenge because he is “stubborn” and was motivated by the people who joined him on the run.

“I’m a big believer in not quitting when things get tough and actually I often find that you figure out more about yourself when things get really bad and often we quit just before we end up succeeding,” Mr Davies said.

He explained: “We had a series of different… not necessarily injuries, but body issues, that just meant we had to still keep running, but then deal with them as we went and they actually happened quite early on, which made the whole thing so much harder.

“It got to the point where I was barely able to stand and my feet and ankles had been strapped but they were so swollen from day five onwards that I lost the ability to use them to push off or flex my feet.

“The challenge got incrementally harder as it went.

“We generally finished the day when I collapsed or when I was done and that was quite a shocking way to finish each day because I had to be carried to sleep because I couldn’t stand anymore.”

He said he “can’t stand” after the run but worked with a