'I've run along all of Birmingham's 8,000 streets'

Nigel Beecroft took up the challenge after finding a website which tracks streets in a city

A man who set himself a challenge to run along every street in Birmingham, has almost completed his mission.

Since January 2024, Nigel Beecroft, an associate director from Harborne, has sprinted down nearly all 8,000 streets and cul-de-sacs in the city, covering 2,500 miles in the process.

Along the 350 runs, the 60-year-old has kept a diary of the places, people and artwork he's discovered, even choosing a winning cul-de-sac.

"It's a bit quirky but I do like exploring and there aren't many people who can say they've seen every single street in Birmingham," he said.

Set to complete his final run on Thursday, Mr Beecroft has planned a celebration at his local pub, The White Horse, where he also works as a part-time brewer.

He said the idea came after an article on reasons to run caught his eye in a magazine, promoting a website called CityStrides.

It logs GPS information from running apps like Strava, and displays the percentage of streets completed. He signed up and started to log his progress.

"Once I started it, it was like a bug to me and I thought, yes, I'm going to do this."

Nigel has stopped and chatted to dozens of people on his challenge, including gardener Joss Bygrave

As part of the challenge, Mr Beecroft had to run along cul-de-sacs, which attracted quite a bit of interest from residents.

"When you're running up and down a cul-de-sac or very close to someone's drive it does bat a few eyelids."

However, one of his favourite parts of the challenge has been the interactions with other people, including some interesting residents.

Among the most memorable, he chatted to Joss Bygrave, from Balsall Heath, who grows vegetables in her front garden for the local community.

Ms Bygrave said when she first saw him running along her street, she assumed he was lost.

"But we struck up a conversation and we had a chance to swap our stories which was lovely", she added.

Mr Beecroft said meeting the gardener stood out because what she does is "different and unique".

Nigel carefully plots his route and said he had completed more than 350 runs as part of the challenge

Some of Nigel's favourite sights have included a front garden in Handsworth with six ice cream vans and an astronomical mural on a house, just around the corner from where he lives, which he didn't know existed.

And, for fun, he even started his own competition for best cul-de-sac.

One of the main challenges was battling traffic, especially on his drives to the different starting points for the runs, which resulted in him planning many early morning runs around other commitments.

"I'm really happy that I've done it, it's a weird thing to do but I would encourage others to do it," he said.

Mr Beecroft has also managed to raise £500 for Mace Foundation, a charity run by the construction consultancy firm he works for, which is currently supporting people who have been in care.