Former Buxton teacher starts 4,750 mile run across Europe

Today, August 1, Aleks Kashefi, who previously taught at Buxton Community School, will fly out to northern Norway ready to embark on his seven-month mission which will see him travel across Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, finishing in Sicily, Italy.

Aleks said: “Training has been mentally and physically tiring. I’m fitter than I was this time last year, and with research now know that there are big sections in Norway that are so remote there will be no food unless I take it with me.

“I’ve put in 200 hours of training in preparation and really all that’s left to do now is to get to the start and see how the adventure unfolds.”

He has put in 200 hours of training, which doesn’t include any gym or non-running based training.

He has climbed a total of 54,171m over the 1,600km of running he has done to prepare.

He will be running barefoot and explained: “I researched different techniques and I found that running without shoes was a minimalist way of doing it, and being a former climber and skater it seemed natural to me.”

Aleks is raising money for the Stroke Association after both his mother and grandfather had strokes, the Buxton Mountain Rescue Team and The Thomas Theyer Foundation.