Frankie Ralph completed a 100-mile run to raise money for charity after his close friend Michael was diagnosed with Early-onset Familial Alzheimer’s aged just 33.
On January 2, Frankie finished 33 laps of Lossiemouth in one day.
His longest previous run had been “just” 57 miles.
The marathon runner said he felt ‘overwhelmed’ during the run due to ‘overwhelming support’ from the community.
Frankie’s run was to raise money for the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre after his close friend Michael Dunbar discovered he had the progressive disease aged just 33.
Starting in the early hours of the morning, at 4am, Frankie coped with freezing temperatures and snow as he completed the laps of his hometown.
He had company on each and every lap, and, to finish the loop of Lossiemouth, he ended up running 101 miles in 16 hours and 50 minutes.
Frankie ended the run at the Firth Hotel where his family, friends and strangers had all gathered to cheer him on.
Community backs Lossiemouth runner
His friends in the running community were “hugely supportive” and came from as far as Edinburgh to join him on the challenge.
Frankie said: “It was awesome.
“I knew a few of my friends from The Green Run Club in Aberdeen had come through.
“And I knew my mates from home were joining parts of the run too.
“But it was just overwhelming all day.
“There was loads of people I’d never met before.”
While Frankie was running, people were constantly giving him updates of how much money his fundraiser had raised.
“I think people were donating quite a lot while I was on the run,” he added.
“It was a big motivator for me.
“The reason I did it in the first place was to try raise money for a good cause and hopefully make a difference.”
The Firth Hotel opened on the day and provided free hot and cold drinks to the runners.
A piper piped him across the finish line, while a crowd of over 100 cheered Frankie across the finish line.
“I wasn’t really expecting such an overwhelming turnout, and wasn’t expecting to raise as much money as I have,” Frankie said.
Over £32,000 raised for Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre
Frankie raised £2,241 in cash donations on the day, which has been added to the total raised on his JustGiving page.
At the time of writing, more than £30,000 has been donated online.
Frankie said seeing Michael and his family at the finish line was ‘quite emotional’.
“It was very special to have them there,” he added.
“It was obviously quite emotional for me as well.”
His friend Michael had returned home to Lossiemouth in 2020 after spending time in Australia, when his parents started to notice he was suffering from memory loss.
He was eventually diagnosed with Early-onset Familial Alzheimer’s after extensive investigations and admitted to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
‘Thank you will never cover the gratitude we feel for Frankie’
Michael’s mother, Lorraine, said the family are ‘in awe’ of Frankie’s achievement.
She said: “100 miles in one day was an incredible challenge which he totally smashed.
“Thank you will never cover the gratitude we feel for Frankie and everyone that has supported him, from the phenomenal donations, the hardy crew who joined him on his epic run, The Firth Hotel for supporting the event and to the crowd that braved the weather to see him finish it was just unbelievable.
“Every penny raised will go to Alzheimer Scotland Research Centre in the hope that one day a cure will be found for this awful disease.”
Speaking to The P&J before the run, Frankie said: “This year I’ve seen quite a big deterioration in Michael.
“I think that was on my mind a lot when I was doing an ultra in October.
“I thought that fair enough, I could just do this run for myself. But instead, I could also do it for someone else at the same time.”
The Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre is a partnership between the charity and the University of Edinburgh and investigates the causes and treatment of dementia.
It also hosts the Scottish Dementia Brain Tissue Bank, which helps increase understanding of the disease and can help develop future treatments.
Conversation