As he crosses the 24th-marathon milestone of his ambitious Marathon of a CEO (MOAC) campaign, York resident Dr William Beer – CEO of sustainability consultancy Tunley Environmental – has gained some high-tech support thanks to new support from Garmin.
The leading GPS and wearable tech brand have loaned Will the latest Forerunner 970 smartwatch to help him track, optimise and endure the remaining 31 marathons of his year-long campaign. The Forerunner 970 smartwatch is a high-performance endurance device designed for ultra-distance athletes. It provides real-time mapping, recovery insights, pace guidance, heart rate monitoring and VO₂ max tracking; a huge upgrade from the paper notebook Will has been using to log his runs.
“The pace data is mint, and the built-in maps will be a lifesaver on my upcoming 55-mile unsupported run,” Will shared. “Apparently, I have ‘excellent’ VO₂ Max, whatever that means, but I’m mostly impressed that it survived a 4am marathon off four hours of sleep… with a recovery estimate of 91 hours!”
The MOAC campaign is Will’s year-long challenge to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks, raising awareness for sustainable leadership and raising £3,500 for PASIC, a Midlands-based charity supporting families of children and young people with cancer. The effort has attracted national attention, with growing support from the sustainability, sports and business communities. Will is set to run one of the campaign marathons with the team from INOV8 on the 16th of July, the UK-based performance footwear brand whose Trailfly running shoes have powered many of Will’s previous runs. The marathon will take place near INOV8’s headquarters in the Lake District with a potential “upgrade” to a 50km ultra-distance. Principal Consultant at Tunley Environmental Dr Robert Moorcroft will also join this run.
Wanting to adopt a more rigorous approach to “surviving” this challenge Will has taken on Nathan Flear the pro running coach who has personally represented Great Britain and Wales in international competitions. With this, combined with the data from Garmin, Will hopes that a thorough approach will not only support him finishing this challenge but enjoying it.
The campaign continues to invite CEOs and business leaders to join Will for a marathon of their own, with Tunley Environmental offering participants a branded t-shirt, a personal journal and a video summary of their run. The initiative aims to inspire leadership that is both physically and environmentally active.
To support the campaign, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/one-ceo-one-year-52-marathons-endless-impact
To track Will’s progress, visit: MOAC
