South Shields teenager's seven half-marathons for food bank

Bradley George was inspired to raise money after watching coverage of the cost of living crisis

A 16-year-old has been described as "Herculean" after taking to a treadmill to run seven half-marathons in seven days in aid of a food bank.

Bradley George took on the challenge after being inspired by news coverage of the cost of living crisis.

The student said he "wanted to do something to help" affected families, and he raised more than £1,000 for the Key to Life food bank in South Shields.

"It's something short of a miracle for us," the charity said.

To prepare for the challenge Bradley ran "a couple of hours" each day before school and another hour on the beach in the evening.

He also continued to attend boxing sessions.

Bradley said the challenge also helped to increase his confidence

His half-marathons were ran on treadmills so the distance and time could be easily measured.

The teenager described the effort as a "mental challenge" and said boredom was the biggest issue as he was "staring at a wall".

"I've done five of them on the school treadmills and two on my treadmill at home," he said.

"My longest one was two hours and 32 minutes. My quickest was one hour and 44 minutes."

He presented £1,150 to the Key to Life food bank.

Bradley, presenting a cheque to Key to Life food bank team leader Marie Burnett (centre) and business development and communities manager Jo Benham Brown

Jo Benham Brown, business development and community manager at Key Community, which runs the service, said Bradley's effort was "Herculean".

"Every parcel that goes out of our food bank generally has about £70 of groceries in for a family of four which should last them four to five days," she said.

"We're regularly spending £1,000 a week in local stores because donations have reduced. Average families who have previously donated are the ones asking us for help now. Donors are feeling it."

Bradley said he was "proud" of the challenge and that it had boosted his confidence.

It took four days for him to recover.

"On the Thursday I finished and on the Friday I went to get out of bed and I collapsed because my legs just wouldn't carry me any more," he said.

"I might do the Great North Run but I'm going to focus on boxing - getting knockouts and maybe going on to titles in September or October."