A woman from Thorpeness runs Britain coastline in record-breaking time
An endurance runner from Suffolk has completed a 5,240-mile run around the coastline of mainland Britain in a time expected to beat the existing record by several months — after spending more than 200 consecutive days on the road.
Megan Boxall returned to Sizewell Beach on Saturday after a journey which covered the equivalent of roughly 200 marathons in 204 days.
The challenge was inspired in part by her late uncle, who walked the same coastline after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but it also came during one of the most difficult periods of her own life.
Ms Boxall was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2024 and has spoken openly about struggling with her mental health during that time.
She said the Samaritans became a lifeline after she experienced suicidal thoughts and periods where she “couldn’t pick myself up off the floor”.
In a statement released before finishing the challenge, she said: “When I was at my lowest, the Samaritans helped me keep going.
“There were times when the pain in my mind was so intense I couldn’t pick myself up off the floor.”
Now, after months battling winter conditions, exhaustion and isolation, she has raised more than £62,000 for the charity.
Despite the scale of the challenge, Ms Boxall said she deliberately avoided thinking about the enormity of what she was trying to achieve.
“With something like this, you can’t really do that,” she said, referring to approaching the challenge like a single marathon.
“You have to just do, ‘I’m going to spend a day running’ and then the next day is, ‘I’m going to spend a day running’ and then it just repeats and repeats and repeats for 204 days.”
Although often described as 200 marathons in 200 days, she explained the distances varied significantly depending on terrain, weather and the route itself.
“There were some days that were slightly less, some days that were quite a lot more,” she said.
Throughout the challenge, Ms Boxall and her dog Shadow travelled around Britain’s coastline in a camper van, facing gale-force winds and the depths of a Scottish winter.
But she said the defining memory of the experience was not the physical hardship — it was the people she met.
“The most uplifting part of this journey has been the kindness and generosity of people,” she said in a statement.
“I’ve been truly blown away.”
She described strangers opening their homes to her, supporters cooking meals and fellow runners joining sections of the route.
“I made some amazing new friends in Scotland who hosted us,” she said.
“There were so many moments like that... which I just appreciated so much.”
By the final days of the challenge, donations to her fundraiser surged dramatically.
Ms Boxall originally hoped to raise £50,000 for Samaritans, but said she was overwhelmed when the total rapidly climbed past that figure before she had even finished.
“I couldn’t believe it. I really, really couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“I thought I probably would hit the target, but I thought it would be in the aftermath.”
She said donations rose rapidly shortly before she completed the challenge.
“It went from, I think it went from 38,000 to 45,000 in like 20 minutes,” she said.
“And then within another half hour, it was over 50,000.”
Despite completing one of the biggest endurance challenges of her life, Ms Boxall said the achievement still feels surreal.
“Not at the moment,” she said, when asked whether she could believe she had completed it.
“I think once I start going back over all of my photos and notes and things like that, I think that will probably help it sink in.”
Even after 5,240 miles, she is already planning her next challenge.
“Later this year, I’m hoping to break the record for the fastest marathon run by a woman with MS,” she said in a statement.
Ms Boxall has kept her fundraising page open following the completion of the challenge.