Vet completes 1,000-day charity running streak

A vet has raised almost £4,000 for charity after completing an incredible 1,000-day running streak.

Vet and conservation advocate Wendy Furness hit the milestone on New Year’s Day, having embarked on her epic challenge in April 2023.

She has raised £3,935 for The Painted Wolf Foundation, a charity working to double the number of painted wolves in Africa.

Also known as African wild dogs, they are said to number fewer than 6,500 individuals in the wild and are classed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.

Exotic locations

Dr Furness, who had previously attempted such a streak before a knee injury cut short her efforts at 605 days, overcame illness – including 10 days suffering from dysentery – and extreme temperatures ranging from -20˚C in Finland to 35˚C in Italy to keep the run going.

The vet ran at least 20 minutes per day in her local park and a variety of exotic locations around the world, from the African bush to the jungles of Sumatra and on ice in Japan.

She said: “Running has been life-changing for me in terms of my health and well-being, plus the upside of committing to running every day for 1,000 days has helped me experience places and people in ways I couldn’t really have imagined.

“When I’m running in the bush for example, I become much more at one with nature and really concentrate on sounds – and for safety reasons, really looking for animal tracks.”

‘Stunning’

She added: “I first saw painted wolves in Botswana 20 years ago – a pack ran out in front of us and I hadn’t seen them before. They were stunning.

“The more I learned about them – how they work together, collaborate and look after each other – the more drawn I was to them.

“I decided to use my 1,000-day streak to raise money for the foundation to support the work being done to help these amazing animals.”

A donations page has been set up on GoFundMe.