Elliot Jenkins (left) is aiming to break a world record running across Iceland in just six days in honour of his friend Eli Sweeting (right) who went missing in the mountains of New Zealand in May (Image: GoFundMe/Elliot Jenkins)A Bristol man is running across Iceland this week to raise funds for a memorial bench for a friend who went missing in the mountains of New Zealand around a month ago.
Elliot Jenkins, from Portishead, has launched a GoFundMe page with the aim of reaching a target of £4,000 for this cause, as well as to raise money for The Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity.
Elliot will be running more than 300 miles across the whole of Iceland from the southern most point to the northern most point, between June 18-25.
He says: “I will be crossing over mountains, running past volcanoes, crossing ice cold rivers and enduring as best I can in one of Europe’s biggest and most remote deserts.
“I will be attempting to break the world record for the fastest ever time of this run, aiming for six days or less.
“I would love to raise money for two causes which are split 50:50 – one chosen by myself as the runner, and another from my trainer/support member Ed who always volunteers his time without hesitation to help and will be supporting me over in Iceland when needed.”
Elliot says half of the money raised will go towards a memorial bench for his friend Eli Sweeting, who went missing in the mountains of New Zealand.
Eli Sweeting (Image: Supplied/ NZHerald)Eli, 25, was reported missing on Sunday, May 4, after he did not return home from a solo trip at Mitre Peak in Milford Sound.
Poor weather in the area complicated the effort to locate him and the search had to be temporarily suspended, before being paused by police after six days.
New Zealand Police said at the time: “In the last six days police have carried out extensive searches.
“We have focused on searching the route used by climbers as well as an aerial search of the entire area using two helicopters and thermal imagery.
The force added: “While the search has now been paused, we will be reviewing our efforts and looking to see if there is anything further we can do.”
‘So full of life and willing to give his all to whatever he set his mind to’
Elliot, who has also lived in New Zealand, describes Eli as being “a good friend for a number of years”, and as one of the people who inspired him to undertake some of the “extreme challenges” he has embarked on over the years.
He says: “He just seemed so full of life and willing to give his all to whatever he set his mind to.
“One of my favourite memories was watching a thunderstorm from out the window from within my nice warm cosy house. All of a sudden I get a phone call from him, thinking something was wrong I picked it up straight away to the always cheerful voice.
“I can’t remember exactly what was said but it ended up with me during the storm, lightning and all, being invited to go swimming in a local Marina to test out Eli’s self recovery techniques – meaning he was going to be intentionally flipping his Kayak while inside.
“With no experience in this at all he trusted me to flip him over if he couldn’t self right himself. It wasn’t long and before I knew it he was upside down somewhere in the water and I was trying my best to count seconds accurately to know when to flip him if he couldn’t self right so he wouldn’t drown.
“I remember all the other people walking past under their umbrellas looking on wondering what on earth we were doing. The part that inspired me the most was just how happy and free he was when he surfaced. That was the type of person Eli was.
“I hope that one day he’ll be able to read all this. I hope this may help people to remember a good friend.
The route Elliot and his trainer Ed will be hoping to run in record time(Image: Elliot Jenkins/GoFundMe)“I would love to raise funds to purchase a lovely bench in his name and his family are in the process of choosing the location for this to go.”
The second good cause Elliot would like to benefit from his fundraising efforts is The Grand Appeal. His trainer, Ed, says: “From helping staff, patients or their families, they put Bristol Children’s Hospital at the heart of everything they do (medical research, equipment, music, play and art therapy, art enhancements, The Grand Appeal’s patient hotel, family accommodation).
“The Bristol Children’s Hospital saved our daughter’s life a couple of times in 2024, and supported her on the ward for a month.
“The care was exceptional, and it was the extra effort from everybody that made the difference. Maybe we can make the difference for somebody else’s kid.”
You can follow along as Elliot embarks on his run, which has all been fully funded by himself and his trainer, by clicking here between June 18 and 25 (depending on satellite coverage).
You can also follow the Facebook and Instagram pages and donate to the GoFundMe here.