A marathon mad man who was determined to complete 75 marathons in 75 days at age 75 has defied all the odds to cross the finish line – even disproving FACEBOOK who said his goal was too “unrealistic”.
Ray Matthews completed his gruelling challenge on Wednesday afternoon (14 Sept) after deciding to raise £75,000 for a local special needs school.
However, his fundraising campaign hit a brick wall when his friend Charlotte Hush, 40, had her £12 advertising campaign rejected by Facebook – despite the fact he had already run 67 of his 75 marathons at the time.
The social media giant sent a message almost immediately which read: “Your post wasn’t boosted because it violates Facebook’s ad guidelines by making claims that are unrealistic or unlikely.”
But granddad-of-three, Ray proved them wrong by crossing the final finish line in style.
Of the doubters, Ray said: “The people who knew me, knew I would complete it. The reality is that the running side of this is not the biggest challenge.
“It’s raising the money that has proved to be a lot harder. I knew I could run 75 marathons in 75 days – I wouldn’t have taken it on if I couldn’t.
“This wasn’t something I had any doubt I could complete.
“But trying to raise £75,000 for Newman School has proved much more difficult because it means so much to me.”
“I couldn’t believe it when I was told Facebook had rejected the ad but the fact that they did made me all the more determined to succeed.”
Charlotte, who runs the Rotherham Together and Proud Facebook page, said she tried to get in touch with Facebook to contest their decision but to no avail.
Charlotte, a teaching assistant at Newman School, knew Ray was in need of a social media boost having raised only 16 per cent of his grand total by the beginning of September.
Ray said: “Being doubted by Facebook has helped me stay motivated. I know there’s a lot more money due to come in.”
The marathon man, from Rotherham, South Yorks., is raising the money to fund a soft playground and specialised equipment for Newman School.
Describing the school Ray has dedicated all this hard work to, he said it was a “special school with special people”.
Ray said: “I couple of years ago I ran 150 miles in one go to raise enough money to buy the school a specially adapted trike.
“It was a wonderful moment when I handed that over to the school. The children there just blew me away.
“The aim of the school is to create joy and if I can help in a little way that’s all I want.”
Ray began his gruelling challenge in July on his 75th birthday and has completed most of his runs in and around his hometown – even being joined by Rotherham United football players at one point.
He even flew to Saint Quentin in northern France, which is twinned with Rotherham, for his 50th and 51st runs.
The retired boxer has had to consume over 6,000 calories a day to keep his body weight up which he has been doing with his wife, Maureen’s “good, wholesome meals” every evening and a lot of nutrition bars and powders throughout the days.
Retired boxer Ray, who used to run a steel construction company, feels fine after his epic undertaking but said he didn’t know whether laugh or cry when he finished it.
He said: “In some ways I don’t want it to end. I thought about the end of the day and wondered what I was going to do next.
“Physically I feel fine. I have a had a bit of a problem with an old, damaged hamstring – the elasticity has gone out of my tendon and it will need to be repaired properly now I’ve finished.
“I need to bring it back to normality.”
One thing Ray does now he’ll be doing is going on holiday somewhere sunny with Maureen, 74.
He said: “We’re definitely going to go away somewhere were it’s warm.
“Then I’ll come back and organise my next challenge – something even bigger and better if that’s possible.”
Facebook has been contacted for comment.
