Run across Canada: British adventurer on quest to make history with no support crew

Jamie McDonald is on a mission to run across Canada in a bid to become the first person to make the trip without a support crew. The adventurer from Gloucester, U.K., plans to cover the 8,000-kilometre distance in 275 days.

Pulling or pushing a trailer full of camping gear and supplies, McDonald is roughing it by sleeping at the side of the road or in bare-bones hostels, and relying on strangers to provide him with sustenance, like the cold beer, coffee and food he received from people in this video.

In 2012, McDonald successfully cycled 22,500 kilometres from Bangkok, Thailand, to his hometown of Gloucester. And just two days after returning home from his epic bike trip, McDonald jumped on a stationary bike to set the world record for static cycling, riding for 265 hours – more than 11 days.

Among the adventures in his run across Canada so far, McDonald swiped a small Quebec flag from an advertising banner after being advised by several passers-by to fly a Quebec flag alongside the Canadian one that he’d attached to his trailer. He also got an extra bounce in his step after meeting a Quebec journalist who had just finished successful treatments for breast cancer. He’s now working his way through Ontario.

McDonald is raising money for several charities, including The Pied Piper Appeal, Great Ormond Street Hospital and SickKids Hospital Foundation.

You can track him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Check out McDonald’s latest self-filmed video: