Ben Ashworth with his Berlin Marathon medal

Ben Ashworth is embarking on his toughest ever fitness challenge, which is a bold statement considering he has ran a marathon length run each month, for the past 17 months. 

Marathon man Ben was diagnosed as terminally ill with Bowel cancer in 2013 and has completely many of his challenges while undergoing chemotherapy.

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Originally setting his sights on six marathons in six months, Ben soon exceeded his goal and has since ran around the guild wheel twice and organised a festive Santa dash, all  raising over £30,000 for cancer charities in the process.

The latest venture the 36-year-old father from Broadgate will endure will see him tackle the National Three Peaks challenge, including cycling the 450 miles between two peaks, and complete a Tough Mudder event in the space of 11 days.

Ben Ashworth and his wife

Ben has recognised the scale of the task ahead of him but says his family are a “driving force” behind everything he does, “11 straight days of activity is going to be gruelling, but I’m determined to do it! I want to carry on challenging my mind and body and redefining what I can expect from life and what it means to live with terminal cancer.”

The Three Peaks will begin with Ben climbing Ben Nevis on September 3 before cycling to Scarfell Pike to complete the second. He will then carry on to climb Snowdon before participating in a 10-12 mile hardcore obstacle course known as Tough Mudder at an event in Cheshire.

Ben makes his way towards the finish line during one of his marathon races

The 11 day cycle of tasks will join a long list of fundraising and awareness raising events Ben has completed for charity. Some have been completed while he was receiving chemotherapy, but after being diagnosed as terminal in 2013 he says he is determined not to let cancer get in his way.

Ben also posted this photograph on social media to raise awareness about elements of his cancer and it soon went viral.

Ben Ashworth posted the stoma selfie to Facebook and Twitter

He said, “As well as raising money I had also set out to promote awareness of bowel cancer symptoms and hopefully make my family proud, but one thing I hadn’t planned was the effect all this exercise has had on my health. It sounds silly now, but I wasn’t really thinking about my health when I started running marathons.”

“Plenty of people would love the chance to do things like cycling and running, but can’t because of cancer, or other illnesses. I’m doing this challenge for them too!”

Ashworth has decided to do an additional marathon

This particular challenge is raising funds for Beating Bowel Cancer, Mummy’s Star and Rosemere Cancer Foundation and any donations can be made by following this link here.