In February 2024 we will be attempting to run a 155km ultra marathon in the jungle of Costa Rica.

We’re doing this to raise money and awareness for the mental heath charity ‘Mind’, a cause very close to my heart. Having faced depression in my teens, I understand the isolation and the uphill climb to recovery.

My struggle isn't unique. A staggering quarter of teens in the UK are grappling with similar challenges, which have only been exacerbated by the recent pandemic.

During lockdown my dad encouraged me to try running with him as a way to boost my mood and deal with mental tension and the effect on me has been impactful. 12 months ago we decided to foolishly set ourselves a crazy challenge - to run my first ever ultramarathon, in an unforgiving jungle, with just under 5000 metres of incline, partially on sand, having never done a marathon…

Mind is one of the channels that I utilised to understand the emotions I was experiencing at the time, and their help made a huge difference to me personally.

I would be truly grateful for your generous support in helping me raise funds for this amazing cause.

Thanks for your support!

maia xx

Update:

I’m so happy to announce that on the 16th of February my dad and I completed our 144km race through the jungle of Costa Rica. What’s more, I managed to achieve 3rd place in the women’s Adventure category despite it being the hottest year the race has ever held and being the youngest runner to ever complete it!

The terrain was incredibly technical with many kilometres through rocky streams, soft sand beaches, ascents of 5000m and dangerously steep descents.

We had the (terrifying) experience of seeing tons of spiders, snakes, poisonous frogs and crocodiles, alongside some cuter animals like monkeys and parrots.

All in all it was an incredible experience, both brutal and beautiful.

As a reminder that speaking up about mental health should be a continuous process rather than just a one time thing to check off the list, we will be keeping this just giving page open until the end of April, as on the 7th of April we will run the Paris Marathon.

Ill mental health is becoming an increasingly persistent issue in today’s society and adequate attention and funding has to be put into systems that tackle this.