Georgina Gharsallah’s mother completes first of incredible 24-hour endurance challenges

Andrea Gharsallah jogged and walked 100km from Richmond in London to Brighton Racecourse on May 29, raising over £1,000 for the charity Missing People in the process.

After jogging the first 28km and the final stages, the 59-year-old finished the mammoth journey in just under 23 hours.

“I’m quite pleased with how it went, I did actually enjoy doing it,” said Andrea.

“It’s nice to have that sense of achievement and to feel like I’m doing something good and useful.

“The most important thing is that I was doing something for Georgina and Missing People.”

Mother-of-two Georgina was last seen in Worthing town centre in Clifton Food and Wine Shop in Clifton Road, with disputed CCTV potentially showing her alive and well that afternoon.

Andrea has worked hard to keep her daughter’s story in the public eye ever since and took on the 100km challenge with just three weeks’ notice.

Even with such a short training window she still managed to jog the first 28km, but was forced to join the walking group in the early hours of the morning to avoid walking through the countryside on her own in the dark.

“When you’re that tired and it’s pitch black in the woods, your mind does start playing tricks on you,” she said.

Andrea was given a boost when her daughters surprised her at the halfway point in Crawley, which she said was the support she needed as the miles began to take their toll.

The plan now is to complete two more 100km marathons – meaning there will be one for every year Georgina has been missing.

The third 100km challenge is already arranged for the weekend of September 3/4, taking Andrea from Eastbourne to Arundel.

A second challenge in between is still being arranged.