Three Lads - Chasing Change

Striving to live a more sustainable life is a key focus for many and any steps we can take to help protect the planet are good ones, whether they are giant strides or tiny footprints. 

Two unassuming heroes of the battle for positive change are Jonty Brown and Chris Wilkinson, who together are taking on an awesome challenge during which they will highlight how runners, enjoying their daily runs, can contribute to the cause and create an undeniable shift by joining their green campaign.  They will be joined by Sam, who will be capturing their journey to release as a documentary once they have completed it.

By day, Jonty is living in London and Chris in Bristol, but both are from Yorkshire and dreamed up their challenge while living back at home in Yorkshire, near Up & Running’s Head Office, during Lockdown 1.0.

Jonty and Chris are embarking on Chasing Change, a sustainable challenge which will take place this August, taking in seven days of running more than a marathon a day, off-road on the coast-to-coast path running from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay. 

That adds up to 192 miles, over 7 days, visiting two coastlines, three national parks, over 52000 feet of elevation and supporting three charities.

The challenge is unexpectedly sustainable and will not just be carbon neutral but also carbon negative – meaning that while no footprint will be created, picking up litter as they go and organising a beach clean-up at the start and finish on behalf of Surfers Against Sewage, one of three charities Jonty and Chris are running for, will take their impact below zero and will make the trail better than when they started.

Two other charities will benefit from their efforts: JDRF which helps to improve young lives affected by Type 1 Diabetes and the Tuberous Sclerosis Association which supports those living with this diagnosis. Both charities are close to Jonty’s and Chris’s hearts.

The first and last day of their Challenge will appropriately see Jonty and Chris join with volunteers from SAS for a beach clean-up at St Bees and finally on the last day at Robin Hood’s Bay.  Why not do your bit and effect some change in your local area by transforming one of your runs into a PLOG, i.e., picking up litter on the go? It is a small step in the right direction.

Go Plogging

How many of us run past dropped litter and wish it wasn’t there but jog on by regardless? Whether you run on the roads or out on the trails, picking up litter as you go is a means to a better environment, and if every runner did this just once a week, we would all be living in a cleaner and happier environment.

Out on the trails it’s even more important, to protect wildlife and keep the countryside beautiful. If you don’t pick it up it may lay there for decades, casually tossed away or accidentally dropped. With no more effort than a stoop down to pick it up, you have immediately created positive change.  Lace up your trainers, take a bag, put on some gloves and see how much litter you can collect as you run your routes. 

Up & Running is proud to be supporting Jonty & Chris with their challenge, together with some of their favourite brands. 2XU, Hoka and CamelBak are all impressed with their ethos and are backing the guys with kit to help their challenge go smoother.

We’ll be reporting back with updates to let you know how they’re getting on, and with the help of Jonty and Chris we will be setting our own challenges for staff and also for our running community to encourage them to go the extra mile with some sustainable running.

Follow the lads on instagram: Chasing Change and  for vegan inspiration or if you want to donate go to their donation page here.