401 Runner Ben Smith awarded Pride of Britain
Ben Smith from Portishead - the man who completed 401 marathons in 401 days has been honoured with ITV's Fundraiser of the Year at the prestigious Pride of Britain awards.
Ben, who he used to be unable to "run for a bus" completed the challenge of running 401 marathons in 401 days in October and was named ITV Fundraiser of the Year at the awards ceremony last night (Mon).
The 34 year old ran more than ten thousand miles during his epic challenge which began on September 1st 2015. It is the equivalent of running from London to Sydney.
We caught up with a very proud Ben
Ben wanted to raise awareness of bullying among young people, with the money collected to be shared between charities Stonewall and Kidscape.
They are charities close to his heart. Ben was bullied as a teenager and tried to take his own life twice. He also suffered a mini-stroke aged 29 following years of bullying and physical abuse at boarding school.
A friend encouraged him to join a running club during his recovery and he found it helped him regain mental and physical health.
Mr Smith wanted to do something to raise awareness of the damage that bullying can do as well as raise money to support relevant charities.Injuries prevented the 34-year-old from running for 401 consecutive days but he kept to his schedule by making up the lost mileage.
Find out more about the 401 Challenge.
The Pride of Britain Awards ITV are screened at 8pm on Tuesday.