A team of student medics from Aberdeen is gearing up for a 24-hour running challenge at the end of May to support the NHS. 

They’ll be joining hundreds of other medical students from across the UK who’ve also been taking part in a month-long charity challenge to support NHS staff.

Although the worst of the COVID-19 crisis appears to be over in the UK, many healthcare workers remain at risk of burn-out, mental health issues or financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic.

The ‘Every Mile for Our NHS’ campaign aims to support those at-risk workers by raising funds for three medical charities: The Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, The Cavell Nurses' Trust and Doctors in Distress. 

The Aberdeen Medics RFC team had originally hoped to run in competition with other medical schools to see who could raise the most money, but the students’ differing schedules, workloads and university commitments didn’t make it possible.

When runABC Scotland put it to fourth-year medical student and AMRFC President David Raftery that the unfortunate turn of events meant that technically, Aberdeen had won the challenge, he laughed and said, ‘Those are your words, not mine!’

Despite the lack of competition, the 24 medics who’ve thrown their stethoscopes into the ring are still pressing ahead with their run at the end of the month, hoping to ‘end a difficult year on a high’. 

When the challenge starts at 3pm on Friday, 28 May, the team will be taking it in turns to run for 24 hours, mainly in one-hour slots. When runABC Scotland asked Raftery how they decided who gets to run at 2am, he told us that it remained a ‘contentious’ topic!

Raftery told us, “Unsurprisingly, the midnight to 5am slots are still available. They’ll likely be filled by the doctors in our rugby club who could run before or after their night shifts, or I’ll ask for ‘volunteers’.”  

When his own shift comes, Raftery plans to run along the old Deeside Railway Line from Duthie Park to Peterculter for two hours – in the hope of reaching the half-marathon distance. 

So far, AMRFC itself has raised nearly £1000, with the wider ‘Every Mile for Our NHS’ campaign raising nearly £6000.

The end of the challenge at 3pm on Satuday, 29 May will be celebrated by – what else – a game of touch rugby. 

Raftery said, “While we’d obviously be delighted if people could donate in support of our efforts – cardio is quite alien to rugby players – we also want our run to raise awareness of these three good causes and encourage others to do their own fundraising.” 

“We’re so grateful that the staff at NHS Grampian and Highland have been teaching us throughout this very difficult year, and this is a small thing we can do to repay them.”