A DETERMINED fundraiser is hoping for a quiet Hogmanay as he gets ready to start the year with a gruelling challenge.

While many will be welcoming in the bells, Dylan Russell will be four hours away from starting a challenge that will see him run four miles every four hours for the first 48 hours of 2022.

Dylan, who was born in North Berwick and grew up in Haddington, is taking on the challenge for charities Hearts+Balls and Support & Offload.

He stressed that it was about finding the balance between completing the distance and giving himself the most time to rest and recover while not running the four miles at such a speed that it took too much out of him.

The Musselburgh resident said: “It is going to be the repetitiveness and I suppose the mental fatigue of running tired and running in the dark.

“A lot of the runs will be on my own – I have not managed to convince many people to come out at 4am on New Year’s Day!”

The 27-year-old has played rugby since he was a teenager, starting in Haddington before going on to play for Stewart’s Melville.

He is also heavily involved with Hearts+Balls 7s team, The Mighty Bovs.

Dylan explained the significance of the two charities and said: “Having played rugby for as long as I have, from under-15s to now, I have been involved in the rugby community and had various injuries and been fortunate enough to come back from every single one.

“It gives you that realisation that some are not as lucky.

“The support Hearts+Balls gives is amazing for those players that have had life-changing injuries, whether they are professional or coming into the professional side.

“They get that bad injury, their career is over and what next?

“Hearts+Balls can put money towards going back to university, wheelchairs, home conversions; it is really whatever the support they and their family need. It is a big one for the rugby community.

“Support & Offload is quite a new charity, a mental health charity, and is all about promoting the benefits of being active, team sport and improving mental health.

“I would not say I have struggled with poor mental health but I have definitely seen those in the workplace and close to me that have done.

“To have a charity like that at hand promoting the benefits of getting out, being active and finding your own way of processing and dealing with things in these difficult times is a big one.”

The challenge on January 1 and 2 is actually only part of what the former Knox Academy pupil is doing.

Since June 1, he has committed to running 35 kilometres every week for a year.

Dylan is no stranger to running, having completed both half and full marathons in the past.

However, he told the Courier that the regular running had still taken its toll.

Work and other challenges have seen runs completed in London, Bournemouth, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and even Dubai!

Dylan, who works as a dispensing optician, said: “It has had peaks and troughs.

“The actual distance itself is OK.

“I would not say it is fine, because it is absolutely not, but it has been more juggling everything else alongside it.

“I was lucky enough to get some 7s tournaments over the summer and I have played a couple of games of XVs rugby as well, not to mention just general other bits and pieces going on.

“Work itself has been chaos and juggling and having to drag myself out either in the evening or the morning alongside everything else, especially coming into winter when I really only get to run in the light on days off, otherwise it is in the pitch black in the morning or after work, has been more mentally challenging.”

Sponsor Dylan at gofundme.com/f/tyzhs-365-challenge