By Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
Fundraising champion Alex Rigby has now raised over £50,000 for charity after becoming the first ever person to run between every single train station on the Merseyrail network.
Alex completed his Running The Railways challenge to raise as much money as he could for the Centre 56 charity in Liverpool, which supports domestic abuse victims and their families.
Over 1,100 people across the UK have donated to Alex’s appeal.
Alex won the Sefton Charity Champion Award at the 2024 Grand Pride Of Sefton Awards after raising over £30,000 for running between every Merseyrail train station on the Northern Line last year.
This year he has completed an even more grueeling challenge!
The fundraising page is still open for anyone who would like to donate:
Centre 56: Alex Rigby runs the FULL Merseyrail Network 🏃♂️🏃♀️
Alex ran 107 miles across two days, racing past all 69 Merseyrail stations including Southport, Birkdale, Hillside, Ainsdale, Formby, Liverpool Central, Chester, and Hunts Cross.
He said: “With the challenge being just over a week old now and the dust finally starting to settle as well as everything else starting to sink in, I am delighted to announce that we have raised over £50,000 with Gift Aid, so far!
“We received a bumper donation from Transport UK Binnington to put us over that golden marker.
“Over the weekend we also received our 1,100 donation!
“The support that this challenge has received has been incredible and I am truly grateful.
“This is and will always be the proudest achievement and moment of my life and I am eternally grateful for all of your generosity.
“Special thanks to all of the staff with Merseyrail for helping make this such a success.
“The page will be open until April so there is still time to donate.”
Alex completed the incredible challenge in 27 hours.
He set off from Chester train Station at 3pm on Friday 28th February 2025 and ran home in front of a jubilant crowd of supporters at Hunts Cross Train Station on the evening of Saturday 1st March 2025.
Alex, from Bootle, is a keen cricketer at Ainsdale Cricket Club in Southport.
As one of Merseyrail’s four chosen charities for the year, the team are delighted to have Merseyrail backing the challenge.
Merseyrail’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Greg Suligowski said:
“We are really pleased to welcome Alex back to the Merseyrail network for his biggest and toughest challenge yet.”
Centre 56 has been a place of safety and hope for families in Kirkdale for more than 50 years. The charity provides specialist nursery care for children aged 2-12 years who have experienced domestic abuse or crisis situations.
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