Leeds fancy dress fundraiser goes live online for his next challenge

Which makes the fact he has raised more than £40,000 for Martin House Children's Hospice over the past five years by taking part in almost 100 races around the world - each in his beloved fancy dress - all the more impressive.

Now, having resigned himself to the fact that the 'runners' high' his runner friends have told him about has evaded him, he's decided to bow out of the sport - but with an epic finale.

He has signed up to the mammoth Disney Dopey Challenge in Florida in January 2021 - four consecutive days of running, with 5k on day one, 10k on day two, a half-marathon on day three and a full marathon on day four - 48.6 miles in total.

And in true Dom-style, his training is equally as impressive. From this Friday, in his Crossgates home, he will be running 26 half-marathons - one every week - each in a different costume, live-streamed for the public to "laugh at", he says, all in aid of the Boston Spa hospice.

Dom, 33, who is dad to Scarlett, four, who sometimes joins him in matching fancy dress, said: “I hate running, but I realised that when raising money for charity, the more uncomfortable I am, the more money I raise, so every year I’ve put on stupid costumes and raised money for Martin House.

“My mantra has always been with these things, if you can’t be fast, be funny, and the costumes usually get a good reaction both online and in person.”

Dom will be raiding his costume-packed wardrobe for the training challenge and transforming into the likes of a parrot, penguin, tiger, Disney princesses and Elvis.

A previous outing for the Elvis costume was last November when he ran a half-marathon along the Las Vegas strip covered in "500 to 1,000 LED lights".

Pre-Covid-19, Dom's original training plan for the Dopey Challenge had been to go into John Smeaton Leisure Centre in fancy dress and do a half-marathon on the treadmill every other week - something he had agreed with the manager.

"I'd arranged do a half-marathon in the gym in front of everyone. I managed to do it twice before the gym had to shut down and it was really funny - especially when people didn't know."

But Dom brushed off his initial "deflation" at the situation and plotted its replacement, with each half-marathon now set to take place every Friday morning in his dining room and live-streamed on www.rundom.run.

"People like to laugh at you on a live stream," he said, adding: "I always have to go one step further. I don't think you can ask for money for the same thing twice. I started doing one half marathon, then did two, then six, then eight and this year I'm doing 26 - at least."

But he vows that the Dopey Challenge in January will be his absolute last run - and even pledged to cover the distance on the treadmill of the race is cancelled.

"I'm putting a lot of miles onto that treadmill. But I really do not like running. Every runner I know says 'you will get the runner's high' and I'm five years in, I've run more miles than anyone else, I've got through ten pairs of running shoes and if I don't enjoy it now, I'm never going to.

"I think if you are going to raise money you have to do a bit more each year and I think the Dopey is the limit of what I can do. Without doing an ultra marathon or something which I don't think I can do and you should only really do that if you enjoy it."

Dom, who was inspired to raise for the hospice when he saw their work while volunteering for Leeds MENCAP, added: "I'm still going to raise money for the charity though. I might take up another sport that I hate. Or do something less active, like darts."

Nikki Denton, fundraising events manager for Martin House, said: “Dom really knows how to put the ‘fun’ in fundraising, and we always look forward to seeing what costume he comes up with next. We hope that when he finishes his last run for Martin House, that he finds a way of fundraising that he doesn’t hate as much as he hates running.”

Dom’s runs will be live streamed from Friday May 22 at www.rundom.run. To sponsor him, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stupidruns.

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