Nick Ashill, 62, has completed a run the length of Great Britain, from John o'Groats to Land's End, marking his third major national trek. This achievement follows a life-threatening incident in 2017 when Ashill was struck by a pick-up truck while running from Santa Monica to Coney Island in the United States.
The collision occurred in Ohio, throwing Ashill into a ditch and rendering him unconscious. At the time, he was on a Skype call with his ex-wife, Sarah, who was in Cyprus. Her call allowed her to alert emergency services, who then found Ashill and transported him to Ohio State University Hospital. He spent weeks recovering from a shattered pelvis and internal injuries, undergoing more than a dozen operations. Doctors had warned him that he might require a wheelchair or walking stick due to the severity of his injuries.
Despite the prognosis, Ashill recovered and returned to the US to complete the original cross-country run. He has also since run the length of Australia.
Ashill's run across Britain began on September 5 and concluded on Friday, October 2. The journey, documented on his Facebook page "Nick Runs Britain," involved running the equivalent of a marathon daily for over a month. He ran through Scotland, passed near Glasgow, entered western England, went through Wales, and finished in Cornwall. The run was not without its challenges; Ashill required medical attention for swelling, stiffness, and pain in his leg, leading him to cycle for portions of the route.
Ashill is running to raise money for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust in memory of his mother. Recounting the US incident, he recalled the truck changing lanes on the highway before veering off onto the hard shoulder towards him. "That is the last thing I remember," he stated. He expressed that without the Skype call, he likely would not have survived, as his body was not visible from the road.
