Visit from the Marathon Man

Last week we had a visit from Ben Smith, the marathon man!

Ben Smith took on an unbelievable challenge running 401 marathons in 401 days. Ben suffers from mental health issues and was severely bullied throughout his childhood and at the age of 18 he attempted to take his life due to the bullying and the difficulty he was having accepting his sexuality. He describes how running saved him and how sport and physical activity is so important for you physical and mental health.

The resilience and determination it must have taken to complete 401 marathons in 401 days is remarkable so I think there are many positive messages Ben can deliver to the students. Ben has delivered hundreds of school assembly visits so is very skilled at pitching his extraordinary story to varying audiences. He was the winner of the Helen Rollason award at the BBC Sports Personality of Year awards last year.

Here is Ben’s website but if you want to really get a feel for who Ben is I would watch the video from BBC Sports Personality - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/sports-personality/38304281. Very emotive.

You can find a video from Ben which features his visit to our school in the tab Children-> Gallery