Briton runs 100 marathons in 100 days across India in 'world first' bid to raise £1million for four charities

Georgia Pearce
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 12:11:55 +0000

A 41-year-old Briton has spoken to GB News after running 100 marathons in 100 days to fundraise for four separate charities.

Appearing on the People's Channel, Hannah Cox admitted she is "absolutely exhausted" after running 4,200 km across India, navigating a forgotten colonial boundary called the Inland Customs Line.

Having only taken up running in late 2024, Ms Cox told GB News she decided to take on the challenge after celebrating her 40th birthday.

She said: "I wasn't even a sports fan, I was unfit, not into sports at all. I turned 40 two years ago, and I decided to do this charity challenge, so actually it will be my two-year running anniversary in May."

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Revealing the inspiration for choosing India, Ms Cox opened up on wanting to explore the country her father originated from.

She said: "I definitely started with 5k runs and obviously that massively grew, but the run across India, it was basically from the Pakistan border and then I ran east and then kind of down to the centre and then to the East to the Bengal border, which was 100 miles and distance in 100 days.

"My father was actually born in India and born in Calcutta, and so I wanted to go and explore the country my dad was from."

Ms Cox also revealed that her run across the Inland Customs Line is a "world first" and has never been done before.

Ms Cox told GB News: "I found out about the Inland Customs line when I learnt about Indian history, and it is a world first to run across that line.

"I would argue that India is the kindest places with some of the kindest people that I've ever met travelling, and I've been lucky to be to go to a lot of places."

Asked by host Alex Armstrong if she faced many challenges during her 100 marathons, Ms Cox revealed that she "struggled to eat properly" and had to sleep in a van with "five other people".

She said: "We all slept together, so there was six of us in one van. We only had a cold water shower, we had a tiny little fridge that only fit in chocolate and soda, so I struggled to eat properly.

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"It was a struggle to wash properly, and it was a struggle to sleep properly because we were sleeping in petrol station forecourts in the van. It was really hot and there was a very small team of us."

Ms Cox opened up on experiencing one of the most "surreal moments of her life" whilst on the fundraising journey, meeting Sir Richard Branson.

She recalled: "We fundraised for four different charities, one of them being Big Change, and they were doing a cycling challenge out in India at the same time.

"Just so happened by pure coincidence to be at the Taj Mahal at the same time, and Richard Branson was one of the people on that challenge.

"So we were able to meet him and he backed us, which was really incredible. One of the most surreal days of my life as you can imagine, walking around the Taj Mahal with a billionaire."

Asked by Alex if she will now be resting following her 100 marathons, Ms Cox said she is more determined than ever to reach her £1million fundraising goal, of which she has raised almost £90,000 so far.

She concluded: "Our fundraising goal is to raise £1,000,000 for people and the planet for our four chosen charities. We've incredibly, thanks to the generosity of a lot of people, we've raised £89,000 already, and 100 per cent of that is going to charity.

"We also had hundreds of people fundraise to help us get out there, so I feel like owe it to all those people that have supported us to keep trying to raise that £1,000,000. So a new challenge will be coming soon."

If you would like to donate to Hannah's charity fundraiser, please visit the website here.