Man 'first to run from Great Wall to Hong Kong'

An ultra runner believes he is one of the first to have run from The Great Wall of China to Hong Kong - a distance of 3,140km (1,951 miles).

Jo Lodder, a former jockey from Leominster, completed the challenge on 15 December having run about 60km (37 miles) per day for 60 days.

The 55-year-old, who now lives in Hong Kong, said the challenge was in aid of Action Asia Foundation, an organisation which helps people with disabilities to live independently, with £160,000 raised so far.

He undertook the challenge with runner John Fan and nine students.

"We're running for people who are disabled and we carried clean shoes with us, on our backs, all the way which represented people in wheelchairs," Lodder told BBC Hereford & Worcester.

"Then we had our dirty shoes for every day in the grime, the grit and the determination that we were going through to represent them.

"It was also for us to remember every day when it got hard, because we were doing 60km a day, and 60km a day is tough and there were times when we didn't want to do it.

"But we'd look at our shoes and remember that this was for other people."

Despite Lodder raising more than £100,000, he said the goal was actually £600,000 which he hoped would be raised within two years.

He added that during the 1980s a man ran from Beijing to Honk Kong, but he was the first 55-year-old to run from the Great Wall to Hong Kong, starting from just outside Beijing.

Lodder said the toughest moments of his run came in the first week, specifically the second day.

"Very early on it was really tough. You always think it's going to be later on, I did, but it was the first week," he said.

"Literally, on the second day I was injured and I don't know how or why.

"I was doing 60km a day but I was doing those like on a normal training day so I don't know why I was injured."

Doctors at the nearby hospital warned him to stop running but a sports masseuse friend encouraged him to ice his leg and run through the pain.

And three weeks later, Lodder said his swelling had gone.

But it was not the first time Lodder had overcome an injury, when he was in his late 20s his jockey career came to an abrupt end when he broke his back.

"I was at that point where I was thinking what do I do but I was very lucky. I was able to walk but a little millimetre here could have been a different matter."

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