A Made In Chelsea star has run his 76th marathon in the space of 76 days, finishing the epic feat outside Buckingham Palace on Saturday.
Joshua Patterson, sometimes known as JP to his fans, looked elated as he marked his world first accomplishment by touching the Palace gates, with hundreds of supporters coming out to see him.
Patterson, 33, has been running in an attempt to raise £1 million for the mental health charity Samaritans.
He ran a marathon in each of the UK’s 76 cities, on consecutive days, beginning with Inverness and ending with the City of Westminster.
Speaking after he finished, he told the PA news agency he wanted “to give a person a reason to live and save a life”, and said the most difficult part of his ordeal was having to spend time away from his daughter, India, who is five.
“Not earning a living, being away from my little girl, not having home or any comfort at all, that’s all been incredibly tough,” Patterson said.
“But if you want to get people to donate and get behind you then you have to make those sacrifices, because if it was easy then everyone would do it.
“The harder the challenge, the greater the reward. What we are trying to do here is give a person a reason to live and save a life.”
Over the last 11 weeks Patterson has slept in a van, showered in leisure centres and battled all weather conditions.
“As somebody who’s struggled with their mental health, it was so important for me today and for the last 76 days to keep pushing on and raise that awareness that if you are struggling, please reach out, and lean on the people around you because they’re there to support you,” he said.
Patterson has long been a champion for mental health awareness, having spoken out about feeling suicidal when at his lowest.
He told MailOnline in April he had struggled with his mental health “for most of my life”.
His mother, Sarah Louise Patterson, travelled to Buckingham Palace to see her son complete his mammoth challenge.
“When he said he wanted to do it, I thought, here we go again,” she said.
“Until I heard who he was doing it for, and then just wanted to go with it. He’s done many a wacky challenge, mainly for charity.
“I feel total pride, and complete relief that he’s home safe and sound.
“India is beyond proud of her daddy, I think it’s a lot for her to comprehend what he’s doing and why he’s doing it, and a day in the life of a five-year-old is a long time, so for him to be away for 11 weeks is a big thing, but she is so proud of him.”
Speaking about his daughter, Patterson said “she doesn’t really understand the magnitude of it, in all honesty, but she’s proud, and I love her, and the hardest thing I had to do was leave her”.
He added: “I’ll see her on Monday, I’ll pick her up from school and we’ll go back to normality again. She’ll want to get ice cream, so that’s what we’ll do, and then she’ll probably want to sleep in my bed.
“Tonight I’m going to go to a pub, and have a beer, and maybe a few more, and see where we go.”
Sonya Trivedy, director of engagement for Samaritans, said: “It was his dream, it was his vision, he came to us. This the first time that this particular challenge has been done, so it’s a massive feat.
“This individual challenge of raising a million pounds for Samaritans, I don’t think has ever been done, and it is just simply incredible.
“For me it’s all those messages of hope that he’s been getting out for people who are struggling to cope, that there is someone who wants to be by their side.”
Patterson has so far raised more than £236,000, putting him nearly a quarter of the way towards his £1 million goal.
