Ultrarunner Steve Sammut Nurminen has completed a 24-hour run around the university track in Msida to donate thousands of meals to Soup Kitchen OFM. In total volunteers completed 7528 laps of the track, covering a staggering 3011 km, which so far has raised €6,940 of the €12,000 goal – enough to provide a month’s worth of meals for less fortunate members of society.

Steve, who himself ran 394 laps – equal to four marathons – raised the equivalent of 160 meals, and had this to say; “The show up of the public has been amazing — yesterday and today lots of people came down, I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t expecting such a turnout to be honest,”

The event, Move For Meals, held between December 2nd and 3rd, also had a number of other activities for people to participate and donate, including a 1 mile kids race which attracted 40 competitors, pilates and yoga sessions, mobility classes, HYROX and a full-body workout, with DJs keeping the tempo up and refreshments available track-side.

Steve started running on Saturday afternoon and continued throughout the night and into Sunday morning, during which time he was joined by others keen to help him in his challenge. He said seeing people attending the fitness classes and fun runs had kept him motivated during the run, which he had prepared for by training four hours per day for a week. Every hour during the 24 hour run he made sure to take a break of a few minutes to eat and drink.

This is not the first time the athlete has run for this noble cause. Earlier this year, he completed a 365km run in Sicily through which he raised over €6,000 for the soup kitchen.

This year saw the runner join forces with local companies BRND WGN and Garnish, the latter of which will provide the meals to the soup kitchen.

iGEN was a sponsor of the event, and our own Enrico Bradamante took part, running the 4 laps of the Beer Run, downing a can of beer before each lap, which was not as easy as it sounds!

Soup Kitchen OFM provides freshly prepared meals three times per week, as well as legal and psychological help and assistance finding a job. Just last year, the kitchen fed over 30,000 men, women, and children by serving a whopping 120,000 meals.

To find out more about their work, visit www.soupkitchenofmvalletta.com.