Over the course of 2025, we’ve heard about some amazing fundraising endeavors across the MAN v FAT community. As the year came to a close, one of the MAN v FAT HQ teams faced one of their toughest challenges yet.
Joe Hemingsley, Regional Coordinator for the Southern Region, took part in a grueling 24-hour challenge to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
The goal of the challenge was to run 5 kilometers per hour, every hour, for 24 hours. In that time, Joe logged an impressive 105km, which amounted to over 100,000 steps and burned 13,000 calories.
After the dust settled on this event, and Joe is now able to walk again without aches and pains, we reached out to him to learn more.
Tell us more about the back story of why you participated in this event
The fundraiser has been on my mind for a while. After seeing Nan and my partner Nan suffer for a long period of time from dementia, I felt a duty to do so. After losing both of them weeks apart, I was looking for a challenge: to do something in their memory and raise money for such a wonderful cause at the same time. I chose the 24-hour event because I wanted the challenge to be brutal. I watched them live in a living hell for months, if not years. It seemed appropriate to throw myself in the deep end – what is 24 hours after all?!
What really happened that night? How did you do during the evening?
We started at 7:00am on Saturday and finished just after 7:00am on Sunday (the last 5k took over an hour!). The first half of the challenge was relatively relaxed – each 5k was completed in under 30 minutes, but that quickly changed. At 12 o’clock, we both fell off a proverbial cliff. The original plan was a “you go, I go” formula, i.e. 60 kilometers per piece over 24 hours.
After 8 consecutive 5Ks, I had no choice but to keep going. Morale was very high during the day, and we had a lot of support. As night approached, the challenge became mentally very difficult.
Was it more difficult than you imagined? How did you make sure you got to the end?
certainly! I was under the impression that no matter how hard it was, I could at least walk 5km in an hour, comfortably. When you are in physical pain, walking 5 kilometers in an hour becomes very difficult because it is more than just a limp. Preventing and managing injuries was key to getting to the end. During the first few runs; I had it in my mind that I would try every hour. However, I had to cover 8 5 km. If I hadn’t made that decision, I think getting to the end would have been a struggle. In the end, I completed 105km out of a total of 120km.
What did you learn about yourself over night?
You learn a lot about yourself in those early morning hours. You learn that physically you are much more capable than you imagined, and mentally you are much more resilient than you thought. I feel as though managing emotions during those 24 hours has a huge impact on the challenges of daily life. It also makes getting out for a run a lot easier now.
What is your next challenge?
I’ve booked a marathon for next April, which I’m really looking forward to. Next, I plan to look into some “ultra endurance” events. What that looks like, only time will tell.
Want to reward Joe for his efforts?
This was a tremendous effort on Joe’s part and one that the rest of the HQ team is proud of. Its fundraising page remains open and you can donate to the worthy cause here.
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