At the end of February, Merseyrail Fundraising Officer Alex Rigby will attempt a unique ultra-marathon challenge to raise over £35,000 for the Merseyside domestic abuse charity Centre 56.

On Friday, 28th February, Alex will run a 107-mile route covering the full Merseyrail Network and visiting all 69 stations on the Wirral and Northern Lines.

He will start his challenge in Chester at 3 pm, and run to all stations on the City Region’s rail network including Ellesmere Port, West Kirby, New Brighton, Headbolt Lane, Ormskirk, and Southport, before finishing at Hunts Cross.

Last year, Alex ran a 60-mile ultra marathon taking in all of Merseyrail’s Northern line stations.

Centre 56 was established in the 1970s as a place of safety and hope for families in Kirkdale and provides specialist nursery care for children aged 2-12 years who have experienced domestic abuse or crisis situations.

The centre knows that witnessing abuse can have a significant effect on children, and its work is providing a safe and nurturing space for children to rebuild their trust in the world.

The charity is one of four that Merseyrail is supporting for 2025, and the Merseyrail team have been working closely with the charity to help make the challenge a success, including displaying posters on screens across the network that encourage customers travelling by train to scan a QR code and donate.

As well as Alex, other members of the Merseyrail team are training to take part with volunteers in the run. They include Managing Director Neil Grabham, who will join Alex as he runs past Centre 56.

It is a sad fact that the work carried out by Centre 56 is needed now more than ever, with violence against women and girls recently being declared an epidemic in the UK.

Refuge estimates that one in four women will experience domestic abuse at some time in their life, and in England and Wales one woman is killed by a partner or ex-partner every five days.

Merseyrail’s Charity of the Year programme has raised over £1m for good causes since it launched, including last year when Alex Rigby raised nearly £30,000 for Centre 56.

To find out more about the challenge or donate, please visit Centre 56’s website at https://centre56.org.uk/running-the-railways/

“Centre 56 is such an amazing place doing vital work to support families that have experienced domestic abuse and crisis across the communities we serve. I have the privilege of seeing firsthand the incredible difference that donations can make for the families we support, and that’s why I’m doing this challenge! My feet will hurt, my legs will ache, but it’ll be worth it to make sure that families have money on the metre, food in the cupboards, and someone to turn to when things get hard.”

Alex Rigby