AN AVID rugby player from Musselburgh is running 35 kilometres every week for a year to raise funds for rugby mental health charities.

Dylan Russell, 27, started his challenge on Tuesday and is running an average of five kilometres a day for 52 weeks in a row to raise money for the Hearts + Balls and Support & Offload charities.

Dylan, originally from Haddington, created the 365 Challenge at the beginning of the year after running between 5k and 50k each week in lockdown.

He said: “Last year, I averaged 17km a week for the year, so to consistently double that every week is going to be a significant challenge.”

Dylan, of Mall Avenue, will plan his weeks carefully to allow adequate rest and reduce the risk of injuries.

He added: “There is no room for injury or a week off and that is where the mental battle comes in.”

The Boots dispensing optician hub manager kicked off his rugby career playing for Haddington under-15s before moving on to Stewart’s Melville RFC in Edinburgh, where he has played for several seasons.

The Hearts + Balls Mighty Boys, which Dylan manages and plays for, compete in competitions across the UK and abroad.

The team have a direct link to the Hearts + Balls Charitable Trust aid, which supports ex-players who have suffered life-changing injuries and offers funding for course fees, wheelchairs and home conversions.

Kenny Hamilton, Hearts + Balls chairman, said: “Folk in the rugby community are extremely generous in supporting our charity.

“Dylan’s 365 challenge is an amazing demonstration of that willingness to go the extra mile, quite literally.”

Support & Offload is a recently established charity combatting mental health issues through sports and exercise.

A spokesperson from Support & Offload said: “Mental health is a massively important issue, especially with everything going on in the world just now.

“One of our goals at Support & Offload is to promote the benefit sport can have on an individual and connecting people to support groups through sport.

“We hope the challenge Dylan is undertaking promotes all the benefits sport and exercise have to offer to our mental health.”

Dylan, a mental health first aider, said that the challenge would be a physical and mental battle but he hoped to raise money and awareness to support people through personal struggles.

He said: “I tend to feel a bit lost without any goals to work towards, both at work and in fitness, but I would be lying if I said I’d had any large struggles with poor mental health myself. 

“My experience tends to come from the other side of these situations.

“As both a multi-site manager and a mental health first aider in my work, I often find myself in situations where I am there to support others – offering assistance that hopefully helps to make that person’s struggle that little bit less daunting or more manageable.”

Last June, Dylan led 30 Hearts + Balls rugby players to run a combined 800 miles to raise charity funds.

Dylan has partnered with companies Rival Kit, Run4It, Asics Europe and 3P training ahead of the challenge.

He added: “I am running for those that can’t and to encourage those that need to unwind to get outdoors and do exactly that.”

To donate, visit: gofund.me/2c1d75c9