Endurance athlete & fitness coach Esmée Gummer has completed The Nation’s 5k, finishing 99 consecutive days on foot across the UK and Ireland after covering 5,000km and hosting a free 5k run club in all 77 UK cities plus Dublin.
Her journey concluded with a finish line at Buckingham Palace and a final run club in Hyde Park, where she was officially presented with the Guinness World Records title for the most run clubs hosted in different cities by an individual.
The initiative raised funds for charity partners, including non-profit mental health organisation Sport In Mind, spinal cord injury research foundation Wings for Life, and public-nominated causes.
The Nation’s 5k challenge was supported by commercial partners including On, Fourfive, Effit, Emma – The Sleep Company, JYSK, realbuzz, and GoFundMe. Realbuzz is an international provider of charity running programmes, connecting fundraising organisations with endurance events.
Setting off on June 27, 2026, Gummer travelled across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales and England entirely on foot, running between cities before leading a free community 5k run club in each location. In total she covered the equivalent of 118 marathons, using 10 pairs of running shoes and welcoming 6,684 people through the run clubs, ranging from four runners in Bangor to 520 in the City of Westminster.
Esmée Gummer said “Ninety-nine days ago, I honestly didn’t know if my body would get me to the end. What I did know was that if I turned up, the communities I was running to would turn up too, and they did, every single time. This record isn’t really about me. It’s what happens when people show up for each other, city after city, week after week. I’ve never felt so looked after by strangers, and they very quickly stopped being strangers.”
At age 18, Gummer was paralysed following complications during a routine operation and was told she might never walk again. She relearned to walk and run before going on to complete marathons and ultra-endurance challenges internationally.
Nina Sethi, Head of Brand and Marketing at realbuzz, official registration partner for the challenge, said “Realbuzz exists to make running feel possible for everyone, and Esmée has done exactly that at a scale we’ve never seen from one person.
“Being the official registration partner for The Nation’s 5k meant watching thousands of people, many lacing up for a run club for the very first time, sign up city after city. That’s the real record here – not just the distance, but how many people it brought with her.”
