‘MARATHON’ Man, Gary McKee, who raised over £1 million for Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice at Home after he ran a marathon every day in 2022, came to Frome last month to discuss his fundraising efforts to employees at local logistics service business Vallis.
Gary met the managing director of Vallis, Andrew Barr-Sim, when they completed the gruelling Grand to Grand Ultra which saw them race 171 miles in seven days, with Andrew raising £8,400 for the Hamlet Charity which looks after children with complex needs.
Gary was invited to Vallis’ head office in December as part of the company’s global week where they invite speakers to the head office; Gary held two presentations to staff on his personal journey and the challenges he faced during his fundraising effort.
Speaking about the visit, Andrew said, “I met Gary at the Grand to Grand and we quickly formed a friendship. I was very happy that he agreed to come to Frome to chat about his personal life story with his dad dying from cancer and how it drove him towards his phenomenal charity fundraising efforts.
“He is an inspiration to us all and he provided a very motivation talk for the staff. Gary was accompanied by a Macmillan spokesperson who gave the very sobering statistic that 17 people in Somerset alone are diagnosed with cancer every day, showing just how important people like Gary are to the charity.
“He spoke for the first hour about his personal background and why he became involved in all the distance running before moving on to talk about teamwork and how to stay motivated which all those in attendance took on board.
“He explained there are many qualities in life such as resilience, endurance and overcoming mental hurdles that you can get from pushing yourself. One of the great expressions he used was ‘being comfortable with the uncomfortable’. This was such a coup for Vallis and we were so thankful that he came to visit us.”
