If I hit £10,000 I have to get the word “GAY” tattooed on my body so I think £9999 is enough right? No one wants to see that.

Xander’s Story:

A Gay Dad does 1000 miles (41 marathons) to raise money for the children of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Xander (Maths Teacher and Comedian) adopted his son many years ago and is still incredibly grateful for the support the NHS Paediatric system gave to his son when he was very ill as a baby.

“The NHS gave my son life and hope and I want do the same for as many children as I can by raising money for them this Christmas. The NHS is in crisis and I can’t bear the thought of children like my son not getting every chance at life and happiness”.

Instead of opening his usual Advent Calendar on the 1st December, Xander will begin his gruelling task of travelling 71Km each day, no breaks, until Christmas Day. If he succeeds he will travel 1,716 Km, which is well over 1000 miles.

“It’s like traversing the full length of Britain from Land's End to John o' Groats and then doing an extra 200 miles just for fun”, says Xander. “But I’m pretty sure it won’t be much fun“ he quickly adds.

To add insult to injury Xander will open a “special” Advent Calendar prepared by his sister Claire (@claire_training). “I have made an Advent Calendar for Xander where each day will reveal the details of a weird costume for him to wear” laughs Claire, “I really enjoyed coming up with costume ideas. He is not going to be very happy with me, but it’s all for such a great cause he doesn’t have much choice. Let’s put it this way some days he is going to be VERY cold and others he will only look VERY stupid 🤣”.

Xander Platz has taken on the epic challenge of doing one Olympic Triathlon (plus 20km!) every day of Advent to raise money for the children of GOSH. Each day he will cover 71km via: 1.5 km Swim, 60 km Bike, 10 km Run.

So everytime you open a door on your Advent calendar this season take a moment to think of the children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and maybe give them them the gift of hope this Christmas by donating to GOSH.

You can do this directly via Xander’s Just Giving page here and all the money goes directly to GOSH. Follow his journey on:TikTok/Youtube: @fitXander, Instagram: @FitFitXander, X: Xander_Platz