ANTI-BULLYING campaigner Ben Smith is running back to the Borders next month.

And the 33-year-old from Bristol hopes to rope in a few running partners from around the Borders as he completes his 264th marathon in a row in Jedburgh.

Ben began his 401 marathons in 401 days challenge on September 1, 2015.

With every stride he hopes to raise awareness of what damage bullying can do as well as raise funds for two charities dedicated to tackling bullying - Stonewall and Kidscape.

Being bullied from the age of 10 led to Ben twice attempting to take his own life - a message he is keen to relay as he makes his journey around the UK. He said: “My father was in the forces and at the time we lived in Germany and to ensure my schooling wasn’t affected the decision was taken to send me to boarding school in the UK.

“Coming from a very close and supportive family environment I found myself alone and very insecure. It would be fair to say it was a shock to the system and a change I wasn’t completely prepared for, this meant I was an easy target for school bullies.

“I turned from an outgoing and excitable child into a very shy and under confident individual.

“The daily physical and emotional abuse broke me and unfortunately at the age of 18 I tried to take my own life after suffering a nervous breakdown.

“Growing up as a teenager is hard enough without having to through mental and physical abuse at the hands of your peers.”

Ben attempted to take his own life again during a spell of depression at university.

It was only three years ago that he finally managed to turn his life around - by coming out as gay and also pulling on a pair of running shoes for the first time. He added: “After years of doing what others wanted me to do, acting in a way others told me to act I took charge of my life and finally came out as gay.

“It suddenly felt like my life made sense, no longer did I pretend to be happy or act in a certain way to successfully fool people. I started running - I got into it as a way of reducing stress in my life.

“The feeling I got from running was a sense of accomplishment I had never felt before, I was hooked.”

Ben’s world record attempt of 401 consecutive marathons have taken him all over the south coast of England through September before moving up towards London in October, over to Wales during November and slowly working his way north as 2016 approached.

On Christmas Day, he completed marathon 116 in Lincoln, and seven days later ran his first 26.2 miles of 2016 in Burton on Trent.

Ben crossed into Scotland last month and spent a fortnight completing marathons, including one at Kelso, before returning south.

He will return to the Borders on Saturday, May 21 with his 264th marathon starting and finishing in Jedburgh.

The following day he heads to Peebles for another 26.2 miles.

Local minister Barry Hughes, who completed his own marathon a month challenge last year, hopes the community will support Ben’s run in Peeblesshire. He said: “I had my own marathon route around Peebles from last year and I offered it to Ben who was looking for routes across the UK.We will start and finish on Tweed Green and hope as many people will join us as possible for either all of the route or just parts."

On Monday, May 23 Ben will also start and finish a marathon from Symington.

For further details or to donate to Ben’s 401 Challenge log onto the401challenge.co.uk.