Exeter graduate carrying 100lbs for 100km in New Year’s Eve charity challenge

Imagine what most 23-year-olds will be doing at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and it probably isn’t pushing their physical and mental capabilities to the limits.

But for recent University of Exeter graduate, Emmet Meehan, that’s exactly how he’ll be welcoming in 2025, as he carries 100 pounds for 100km to raise money and awareness for mental health charity YoungMinds – a feat he estimates will take 30 hours straight to complete.

YoungMinds want to ensure every young person in the UK has access to mental health support if they need it and less than three weeks after being among the first cohort graduating in MSc Sports Management at a ceremony in Exeter, Emmet will begin the long walk to fundraise for the charity.

“I can think of many situations when I was younger where the people around me didn’t get the support they needed and I’m very aware of the effects that can have,” he said. “The idea is I’m carrying something heavy for a long time, which might seem tough but for many young people they’re carrying something emotionally heavy for much longer. You can’t necessarily see that, so the challenge represents the struggle that many young people go through.”

Emmet has been undergoing a strict and detailed training regime for the past three months to prepare for the challenge. Carrying such a heavy load (around the weight of a fridge) for such a long distance can put ankles, knees, and hips at serious risk. This is coupled with managing energy levels, fatigue, and sleep deprivation.

“It’s more of a mental challenge than anything,” Emmet continued. “Talk to any ultra-endurance athlete and they’ll probably tell you it’s around 70-percent mental and 30-percent physical. It will also be dark for a lot of the time, which is another major challenge. So, you can do all the training in the world but have to prepare your mind for the fact it’s going to suck for a long time.”

Although he’s the only one doing the walk, Emmet will have a support team on the day providing regular checkpoints for food, water, and changes of clothes depending on the weather and temperature. He also wants to bring the skills he’s learned during four years at the University of Exeter studying Sports Science and a Masters in Sports Management to the challenge. Emmet plans to start his own health coaching business in the future to help people “optimise their performance” and decided to “put my money where my mouth is” by showing he can do it himself.

“I’m using everything I’ve learned about high performance to prepare for this,” he said. “And I want to spread that knowledge. If you can perform better physically, it translates into psychological hardiness – which I think is such a key aspect of life that everyone should have access to and is something I want to share.”

Dr Lynsey Melhuish is Programme Director for MSc Sports Management at the University of Exeter and said: “As one of our first cohort to graduate from the new course we’re extremely proud of Emmet. This challenge magnifies the power that sport, health and fitness, and the great outdoors can have on mental health and wellbeing – which are all topics Emmet and his peers explored through the programme. I’ve no doubt that Emmet can be an inspiration to others in his quest to raise awareness of mental health and we wish him well on his journey!”

Julia Garden, Community Engagement Officer at YoungMinds, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that Emmet has chosen to support YoungMinds with his amazing challenge. With Emmet’s help we can create a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health. We really value his support.”

After 30 hours of putting his mind and body to the ultimate test you’d think Emmet deserves a rest. But his desire to help people – coupled with a very busy schedule – means just a day after completing the challenge he begins a firefighting course, which he plans to do alongside his own business.

“I would have loved the rest time!” said Emmet. “And I have told them about the challenge, which they’ve said they’ll take into account. But I have a feeling I’m just going to be slamming painkillers for a couple of weeks!”

Emmet Meehan’s JustGiving page can be found here – https://www.justgiving.com/page/100lbs-100km-1729849901571?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2F100lbs-100km-1729849901571&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share