SPORT NEWS - Georgian endurance athlete Mark McArdle has completed one of the world’s toughest races on foot even though a doctor told him he was being withdrawn on medical grounds.
For McArdle, the final kilometres were less about physical strength than the reason he was running - and a phone call from a friend. He crossed the finish line of the 215-mile (346km) Race Across Scotland with less than two hours to spare before the 100-hour cut-off.
The gruelling coast-to-coast race follows Scotland’s Southern Upland Way, taking competitors across exposed moorland, forests and hills while running continuously through several nights with minimal sleep.
McArdle, founder of Limitless Men, was taking on the challenge to launch Howzit, Really?, a South African men's mental health campaign built around one of the country's most familiar greetings.
“In South Africa we say howzit fifty times a day. It’s a question. Nobody ever answers it. We say ‘sharp, sharp’ and we move on. This campaign asks men to mean it once.”
Told he was finished
McArdle had passed the halfway point inside the top 20, completing the first 100 miles in about 20 hours.
But at checkpoint 8, his race took a dramatic turn when a medical practitioner told him she was withdrawing him because of the condition of his feet and a suspected infection.
After an hour's sleep and a discussion with another medical steward, McArdle was patched up and decided to continue, initially aiming to reach checkpoint 9.
He still had about 180km ahead of him. What followed was, in his words, “a little bit of hell”.
Every stride was painful as sleep deprivation took hold. He ate less and less, and when he could no longer keep going, he would stop beside the road, climb into a plastic survival bag and sleep for as little as 15 minutes at a time.
Yet he kept moving.
An hour and a half for the final 3km
By the final stages of the race, McArdle was moving at a fraction of his normal pace.
The last three kilometres — a distance he would ordinarily cover in less than 15 minutes — took him about an hour and a half.
The difference, he says, was a phone call from a close friend.
“What made that 3km manageable was a phone call I received from a best friend of mine, talking me through the pain and why I was there doing this crazy race. We cried, laughed and got through it somehow.”
For McArdle, that moment captured the message behind the campaign he had carried across Scotland.
“I finished very far from the time I’d set myself. But life doesn’t all go to plan, and we need to draw on those around us to get us through the tough times.”
From funerals to a campaign
McArdle has spent three decades competing in endurance sport, including 11 Comrades Marathons, where he earned 10 silver medals, Ironman triathlons and South African colours at the Triathlon World Championships.
He was also the outright winner of the 2025 SOX Multi Stage Trail Run and won his age category at the 2026 UTMB MUT 100km.
But the idea behind Howzit, Really? did not begin on a race course. It began at funerals.
“Over the years I’ve lost friends and colleagues to suicide. Men who looked strong, successful and sorted, and who were struggling in silence behind the smile,” McArdle said.
“Afterwards all of us were left asking the same thing: what if someone had asked? I can’t answer that. But I can make sure more men get asked.”
Scotland was a deliberate choice for the challenge. It is the country where McArdle was born, and he wanted to take a distinctly South African question onto an international stage before bringing the spotlight back home.
The question is already opening conversations
The campaign began generating responses even before McArdle started the race.
A single social media post prompted friends he had not heard from in years to get in touch. Some men shared their own struggles, while strangers sent messages of support.
One friend McArdle had not seen for more than 30 years even surprised him on the route to offer support.
His wife also crewed the race throughout, including at checkpoint 8, where McArdle sat in the car in tears after being told his race could be over.
“So even when life gets really tough, there are always those around you who will be there for you,” he said. “I really experienced that support on this race.”
A simple question with a serious purpose
According to the campaign, nearly eight out of every 10 South Africans who die by suicide are men, amounting to more than 10 800 men a year.
South African men are more than four times as likely to die by suicide as women, while the country's suicide rate remains among the highest in the world and the third highest in Africa.
Howzit, Really? has a straightforward message: ask a mate how he is - and genuinely mean the question. And when someone asks you, answer honestly.
The campaign is supported by Phelang Bonolo Health Care (PBH). Its call to action is equally simple: Ask it. Mean it. Answer it.
Support
- SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0800 567 567 - free, confidential and available 24 hours a day.
- SMS 31393 for a call-back or visit sadag.org.
- If someone is in immediate danger, call 112 from any network or 10111.
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