Man who ran length of Metro line raises £12k
NexusA man who raised £12,000 for charity by running the length of the Tyne and Wear Metro line has said he is looking forward to a "nice sit down".
Paul McDougal completed the 73.5-mile (118km) challenge which started at South Hylton Metro station, Sunderland, and finished at St James station in Newcastle on Sunday in 18 hours and 40 minutes.
McDougal, who is from Cramlington but lives in Vietnam, said he wanted to help a charity that supported children whose parents suffered from alcohol addiction.
The 35-year-old said he was "almost certain" he would have failed without the support from family, friends and strangers who cheered him on and fed him.
Tracking the Metro's yellow and green lines along adjacent paths and roads, McDougal ran to Pelaw in Gateshead, then down to South Shields and back, before heading through Gateshead and Newcastle to reach the airport.
He then ran back to South Gosforth, before running around Metro's coastal loop through North Tyneside.
McDougal said the hardest section was from mile 30 to about mile 45 when he was running from South Gosforth to Newcastle Airport.
"It was in the middle of the night and my knees were on fire...I was in so much pain I thought I was going to vomit," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"When I came up with this stupid idea about nine months ago, I was going to do it completely alone."
NexusMcDougal said that would have been "ridiculous", adding he was almost certain he would have failed going solo.
"I was really lucky to have a massive support network around me...sometimes I would get to Metro stations and there were strangers waiting with banners.
"If it wasn't for them, I would have never got the job done."
He said he was "so humbled" by the support.
"It was a lot harder than I expected but I managed to keep going. I was in a lot of pain," McDougal said.
"I'm relieved and so pleased that I managed to get to the end of this run. I'm looking forward to a nice sit down now."
McDougal said the money raised for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics would be "amazing for so many children".
Lynne Dickinson, station delivery manager at Nexus, described the run as an "incredible feat of endurance" and a "monumental effort".
"We're over the moon to see that he has completed this challenge inside a single day," she said.
