Twenty-eight-year-old Johnny Steede will spend four days running from Belfast to Dublin, take a day’s rest, and then finish off by running the Dublin marathon.

The mammoth challenge has been aptly named the Long Run Down, and will see him leave the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice in Newtown-abbey on Wednesday, October 22, and head south for Dublin.

But Johnny, who is a member of Ballymena Runners’ Club, refuses to make things easy for himself, and has set himself the extra challenge of completing some extra miles on his journey.

He will visit Lisburn, Lurgan, Portadown, Banbridge, Newry and Drogheda, to collect donations for his chosen charities – NI Children’s Hospice, the Samaritans and the Laura Lynn Foundation in Dublin.

He’ll be running the distance alone, although a support van will travel behind him, and he’ll be flanked by some cyclists, all of whom will ensure he has a constant supply of carbohydrates and fluids to get him through his challenge.

In total, Johnny, who works as a telecoms engineer, reckons he’ll run an unbelievable 175 – 180 miles – or roughly 40 miles a day.

“I plan to run two stints of three hours each per day,” he said.

Having a fair bit of experience in notching up long distances – he has completed 39-mile and 62-mile events in Connemara and Yorkshire respectively – Johnny feels fairly confident about his next challenge.

He’s also been stepping up his training in recent months, running about 80 to 100 miles per week.

“The way I look at it I have to be confident because if I doubted myself I’d never do it,” he laughed.

“I know I will finish it.”

If you would like to make a donation to the event, you can do so online at www.justgiving.com/thelongrundown or by visiting the website www.thelongrundown.org.