Bristol man breaks world record during run across Iceland in honour of missing friend

Elliot Jenkins (left) broke a world record running across Iceland 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 who embarked on a mission to run across Iceland in honour of his friend who went missing, has broken a world record. Elliot Jenkins set about to break a world record running across Iceland in just six days, back in June.

Elliot, who is from Portishead, did the adventurous run in honour of his friend Eli Sweeting who went missing in the mountains of New Zealand back in May. A GoFundMe page was also launched to raise funds for a memorial bench dedicated to Eli, and also for Bristol Children’s Hospital.

At time of writing, the fundraiser has raised £2,453. But that’s not the only success under Elliot’s belt. Taking to his Instagram page ‘runnin.with.elliot’ over the weekend, Elliot confirmed his world record attempt had been successful. He said: “Hello Elliot here! I have officially broken the world record for the fastest run across Iceland, running 441 miles over 9 days 4 hours and 51 minutes.”

He shared a photo of his framed certificate from Guinness World Records, and added: “Words cannot describe how difficult this was. Nearly getting hit by massive trucks in the fog, crossing a whole desert which at points had no backup support when Jimmy the car broke down, going up and down many massive mountains and volcanoes, jumping in a huge glacial river and almost being washed out to sea, trying not to get hypothermia and generally trying to survive that distance of a run. “I risked everything just to get to the start line let alone the finish. But it was all worth it, we raised a great amount for two amazing causes which we are starting to work on now. I want to thank everyone very very much who donated, this will make a big difference to the Bristol children’s hospital and also we should be able to get a nice Bristol based memorial sorted for Eli.”

Tagging his trainer and trip companion, Ed, in the post, Elliot described having made some ‘great memories’ together during the trip, and Elliot thanked him for “somehow managing to support me all that way and encountering all the massive problems with me. He climbed a mountain at 2am with me after a full day of supporting, got chased by a bull at one point, jumped in freezing rivers with his Lidl shoes to see if they were crossable and somehow dragged an old tiny and broken Suzuki across one of Europe’s most remote countries.

“All while collating all the evidence for Guinness world records and bringing me back to life at each stop. You definitely inspire me to be like you one day!” The run was scheduled to be livestreamed throughout the week, and Elliot hopes that he can have a cinema viewing of it later in the year. Responding to questions around why he embarked on such a mission, Elliot said: “Quite a few people have asked me why I did this and the easiest answer was I was fed up of losing, I lost quite a few things in the previous year and I just wanted to win at something, anything! Even more people have asked me what’s next and well you’ll just have to wait and see…”

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Missing Eli

Eli Sweeting (Image: Supplied/ NZHerald)

Back in May, BristolLive reported that Eli’s family, who moved from Bristol to Port Motueka, were flying out to assist with search efforts.

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.”

A separate GoFundMe page set up to support the search for Mr Sweeting, who is originally from Bristol, raised more than £13,000 just before Elliot set off on his world record attempt.

‘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.”

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