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<\/p>\nA woman who lost her cousin to suicide aged 32 has raised nearly \u00a370,000 of her \u00a3100,000 target for mental health charity Mind, and is about to embark on an epic run, walk and cycle from Durham to London before tackling the London Marathon for the eighth time.<\/p>\n
Ruth Wilson, 40, is in the latter stages of training for her 330-mile \u201cMind over Mileage\u201d challenge from her hometown of Durham to the start line of the London Marathon, which she\u2019ll complete in five days before taking part in the race on the sixth day \u2013 Sunday April 26.<\/p>\n
Ruth, who is the college head at John Snow College, Durham University, has been fundraising for Mind since 2018 through various events and challenges, though her 2026 feat will be the most demanding to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a really epic challenge,\u201d Ruth, mum to an eight-year-old daughter, told PA Real Life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe magnitude of that is very much hitting home at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ruth has run the London Marathon seven times already (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
\u201cI want it to be really hard,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want it to be about reflecting that people who are living with mental ill health are doing really difficult, hard, challenging things every day, and sometimes that is putting one foot in front of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August 2018, Ruth received a phone call telling her that her cousin Ged, then 32, had died by suicide.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still takes my breath away, saying that sentence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGed was a person that, on the surface, was so outwardly confident and happy and engaged, and the life and soul, the person who would light up a room.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a young family, had a great career\u2026 Receiving that phone call to say that somebody you love and care about has taken their own life, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s anything you could ever prepare for, but I also don\u2019t think it\u2019s anything you ever get over.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Ruth and her cousin Ged at her wedding (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
In her grief, Ruth decided to try to raise some money for the mental health charity Mind in Ged\u2019s memory. She ran her first ultramarathon, a 100km run from London to Brighton, raising around \u00a34,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fantastic to recognise him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a really good way to talk about the fact that I\u2019d lost someone to suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, after completing the challenge, Ruth said she \u201cstill felt so hollow\u201d. She knew nothing would take her pain away, but she felt inspired and compelled to do more for Mind, to help prevent other families from going through what she and her family did in losing Ged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept on keeping on, on the basis that all I felt I could do was attempt to try and utilise my own grief, my own lived experience, to try and prevent, for want of a bit of a word, other families potentially going through what my family were at the time,\u201d Ruth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge absolutely snowballed, and eventually became a quest to raise \u00a340,000 before I was 40 \u2013 Ged and I should have been 40 six weeks apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ged](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0ecf404e3dfe4e3b3ee4178e77758aa1.jpeg\"\/)
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Ged and Ruth, aged two (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
Around a year ago, when Ruth was approaching her 40th birthday, she had raised nearly \u00a360,000 for Mind through physical challenges such as the London Classics, bake sales, university charity balls, and even a 15,000ft tandem skydive \u2013 smashing her original target.<\/p>\n
Having seen how her fundraising had brought people together and opened up conversations about mental health and the impact Mind had had in her community and at the university, she decided to up the ante, and set a new goal of \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n
When Ruth learned she had been given a Mind charity place in the 2026 London Marathon, she realised she \u201ccouldn\u2019t simply rehash the plan\u201d and decided to make this her biggest challenge yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, in my infinite wisdom, I\u2019ve decided to run, walk, cycle from Durham city, where I live, essentially to the start line of the London Marathon,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the plan is to do that over five days, and then on day six to complete the marathon itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d30969774bd21fb404341417d3c7ee1f.jpeg\"\/)
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Ruth with her eight-year-old daughter Zoe (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
Ruth\u2019s route from Durham to London will be around 330 miles, and she will cycle most of it on a low-incline route to try to save her legs as much as possible before race day.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll go from Durham to York, York to Lincoln, Lincoln to Peterborough, Peterborough to Cambridge, then Cambridge to London, and hopes to visit local Mind centres in each city she stops in along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband has just been unbelievable throughout all of these challenges,\u201d Ruth said of her husband Andy Wilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did promise him at the finish line of last year\u2019s London Marathon that it was my last ever London Marathon, so you can imagine his face when I said: \u2018I\u2019m going to do it again, but also I\u2019m adding on this epic endurance challenge\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eight-year-old daughter, Zoe, has also been very supportive of her mum\u2019s endeavour, and Ruth said they have \u201chad some really amazing conversations about mental health and about how passionate I am about that, and she has turned into a dedicated fundraiser herself alongside this\u201d \u2013 running three Junior Great North Runs for Mind.<\/p>\n
![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/59badb2ec4868b28a156a0833cead27e.jpeg\"\/)
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Ruth said this year\u2019s fundraising feat is \u2018a really epic challenge\u2019 (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
By hitting her fundraising target of \u00a3100,000, Ruth hopes to not only support the continuation of Mind\u2019s services but also directly impact her local community in the North East with expanded mental health support, working closely with the charity to support her local community.<\/p>\n
According to Samaritans, the highest rate of suicide in England in 2024 was in the North East, with 15.1 deaths per 100,000 people. This number has increased from 14.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t bring my cousin back. I would give all the money away in a heartbeat, of course, if I could,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut actually, those moments of connection, and those moments of people giving me the privilege of telling me their mental health story, that is the most hopeful and inspiring thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so proud that that\u2019s what we\u2019ve continued to create. People\u2019s ability to have connection and community and find hope in really, really sad moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d8c8912ccb1bbbb31597360cebf83bc2.jpeg\"\/)
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Ruth at the Paris Marathon (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s many more of us out there who need support with our mental health than the statistics would ever prove,\u201d Ruth added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the conversations are great, but conversations need action, and action is going to take a continued swell of all of us saying, \u2018OK, what next, what now?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe saddest thing for me is those statistics on suicide in the UK, particularly young male suicide, of which, of course, my cousin Ged sadly is part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Samaritans, males are three times more likely to die by suicide in England than females.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore young men are still taking their own lives than we can allow,\u201d Ruth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an educator, as a parent, as a member of humanity, I think we have to keep on.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/470d9bed55808df9b125bac008a39a82.jpeg\"\/)
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Ruth said \u2018there\u2019s many more of us out there who need support with our mental health than the statistics would ever prove\u2019 (Collect\/PA Real Life)<\/p>\n
Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. For support, visit mind.org.uk<\/a>, and to donate to Ruth\u2019s challenge, visit Justgiving.com\/fundraising\/team40kbefore40<\/a>.<\/p>\n