Man who quit full time job to become a pro-videogamer in unique marathon attempt

Tap to watch a video report from ITV News Meridian's James Dunham

Playing video games to earn a living for many young people would be the ultimate dream but for Charley Halford from Sevenoaks in Kent he's made it a reality.

The 21-year old got into gaming in 2019 having broken in his leg and in 2020 during Covid turned the hobby into a full time career having quit his job.

He's built up quite a following online under his gaming name 'Halfordsucks' with more than 125,000 people subscribed to his Facebook page to watch his video game streams

Charley's used his following to take part in a rather unique marathon effort for charity by taking on 26.2 miles on a treadmill whilst playing one of his favourite titles on the console.

Charley taking on the 26.2 miles Credit:

"The reason we came up with this is because I actually had done a video playing 'Warzone' on a treadmill in a gym, and I turned to my team and was like, 'do you think that I could do that while doing a marathon?'

"I really like to push everything to the limit. And bearing in mind I was like very overweight at that point, drinking a lot and very unhealthy, everyone turned around and said 'Charley, there's not really a chance...'

"And I'm like, I feel like I want to give it a go. If someone tells me, no, that generally means I'm going to try my hardest to actually try and achieve it and that was all the motivation I needed."

A questionable choice of footwear chosen by Charley during his training Credit:

To prove the doubters wrong, Charley started training in January attempting to run a marathon whilst wearing a range of unsuitable and quirky footwear from wellington boots, to brogues and clown shoes.

In the wind and rain of Whitstable the effort was abandoned after mile 16 but Charley has been building up his strength and resilience by visiting the gym.

His motivation for the ambitious and tough challenge, two charities which support veterans of the armed forces, Combat Stress and Blesma.

Blesma is using the money raised by Charley to provide practical support and to run activities to bring its members together, which includes gaming events.

  • Chris Knight from Blesma explains how the money will support those injured in duty

"It doesn't matter if you sit in a wheelchair. It doesn't matter if you're limbless. Doesn't matter. Whoever you are, you're able to gain the game. And is one of those one of those things that we're really keen to push", says Chris Knight from Blesma.

Charley's been spurred on by his team throughout his training and whilst taking on the gruelling challenge.

His right-hand man Jamie 'Pud' Chambers said,

"He's trying to break the stigma of 'you just sit in your mum's basement and play video games for a living' to playing video games on a treadmill in your mum's basement for a living."

So far Charley has raised over £12,000 for his two charities through his online profile Halfordsucks, and he's looking to raise as much as possible, but on the marathon side of things it is mission complete.