Two Cardiff University students have run 245 miles to Paris over six days to raise money for charity.
Betsy Board and Taylor Lambert, both 22, raised over £1,000 for Heart Research UK and Canine Partners by running from London to Paris at the end of July.
Betsy’s family lives with a rare genetic condition called HCM, where the heart muscle becomes thickened.
Betsy explained to Wales Online: “It’s on my dad’s side of the family, and my grandfather unfortunately died a couple of years ago from it. It’s only been discovered in the past 20 years, and Heart Research UK are the leading researcher into it.”
Taylor’s mum was in an accident a few years ago, which resulted in paralysis from the waist down. Speaking about her mum’s recovery, she said: “One of the organisations which helped through the rehabilitation was Canine Partners. They train up dogs to help people who aren’t as able-bodied.”
The two students met working together at the Mackintosh Pub in Cathays, Cardiff and bonded over their love for playing “every sport under the sun” when they were younger.
(@taylor._.lambert)Taylor is set to embark on a Master’s degree at Cardiff University in September, after she graduated from Cardiff Met this summer. Betsy will be starting work as a trainee solicitor in London.
Betsy recalled: “I messaged Taylor back in May asking if she’d be crazy enough to do it with me! As well as it being a total adventure, we both wanted to raise money for a couple of charities that mean a lot to us both.”
Taylor had just completed her first half-marathon and jumped at Betsy’s proposal. She said: “I was so excited I literally had no hesitation.
“I was at work so I was telling everyone I was running to Paris, all these questions were just thrown at me and I was like couldn’t tell you, how, when, what the distance is – but I’m doing it.”
Come July, equipped with a change of clothes, toiletries, a water bottle and some plasters, the pair set off to Paris.
The girls left from Clapham Common, and enjoyed sights of the South Downs and Northern France on their six day journey. They even watched the women’s EURO final on the ferry across the Channel – respect!
Each day they ran roughly 45 to 50k, despite Taylor’s lack of experience in high-endurance runs.
The pair booked accommodation to stay in along the way and lived off baguettes for the majority of their trips. Betsy added: “Most days we were running with baguettes strapped to the sides of our bags.”
Taylor recalled: “On day three we hadn’t got any food prior and I said I’d do directions to the supermarket, and as we got about an hour from the accommodation we realised we’d have to cross a motorway to get to the supermarket, so we decided against it. This was our hottest day and we had to run another 13km before we reached another supermarket!
“We didn’t eat ‘breakfast’ until 2pm, we had no water, no food and were just sweating through the heat. We were a bit delusional at that point!”
Once the pair arrived, they dashed to H&M to grab some fresh clothes and shoes, and then enjoyed a well-deserved lie down on the sun-soaked streets of Paris.
Reflecting on the experience, Taylor said: “It was honestly such a good time and a great experience, even just to be outdoors for eight to 10 hours a day and away from social media for six days.”
This isn’t their last ambitious adventure, either.
Both girls are eager to take on a bigger challenge each year and encourage more women to explore by starting their own podcast.
Betsy explained: “We want to bring a spotlight to the idea that you don’t always have to be doing something mainstream, you can go and do something a bit more out of the box.”
Featured image via @betsy_runs on Instagram
