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Paul Willgoss - The Walker with a Heart

Paul Willgoss MBEChildren's Heart Federation trustee Paul Willgoss, 38, is looking forward to the sort of schedule that would leave most people breathless, let alone someone born with a major heart defect.

Over the last 8 months he's walked to the top of Snowdon, spent an hour on the 4th Plinth in Trafalgar Square, run the Great North Run, run countless miles around Liverpool to train for his challenges and been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his charity work.

Paul has recently completed his original challenge of 1000km in a year, including walking a Marathon overnight in Manchester and running the Edinburgh Marathon on one of the hottest days of the year.

He said;

“When I started this I never thought I'd complete the 1000km with over a 100 days to go.  Knowing for the first time in my life that I'm fit enough to take on these runs and walks is a great feeling.  I also know how lucky I am to be able to do this and the real challenge over this year is how to make sure that others born with their heart conditions get the support I've had, which is why I'm raising awareness and funds for the Children’s Heart Federation especially in the run up to Children’s Heart Week in May”.

His original challenge of running or walking 1000km was met with more than 100 days left so the target was extended  to 1500km to, as he says “keep it interesting”.

Paul has just completed the Liverpool Half Marathon in a Personal Best time for the distance (02:58:35).  You can view his half marathon using the Google Earth powered gadget below.  You can also view detailed perfomance figures by visiting his personal Garmin Connect Page.



Paul completed the second of his latest batch of challenges, the Manchester Overnight Walking Marathon,i n a total moving time of 6:42:17. 

Paul said;

"This event was all about making sure I was mentally tough enough for the Marathon in Edinburgh, it would've been very easy to sit back and just enjoy a 26 mile stroll.  However, I managed to keep a good pace up all the way through, my legs and feet felt fine and for a walking marathon I got a cracking overall time and my moving time (taking away the stops for traffic etc) is faster than any marathon I've done before."

Next on his agenda was the Edinburgh Marathon, that took place on 23/05/2010.  You can view Paul's route and metrics for this event in the Garmin Connect widget below.

Paul's most formal kilometre ever was covered on the way to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE on the 2nd June 2010.  His blog from this very special day can be read here.

You can keep up to date with the progress Paul is making by accessing his blog or following him on twitter.

Paul's walk has been featured in a number of national publications including;

Click below to read articles and press releases about his various exploits: