AN Erskine teacher who loves to jog has completed a running challenge with a difference.

Michael Shanks, who teaches modern studies at Park Mains High School, has covered every street in Glasgow during his daily runs since the Covid pandemic first struck.

What started out as a lockdown exercise notion ended in George Square yesterday, almost 1,500 miles later – roughly the same distance from Erskine to Moscow.

Since March 2020, Michael has covered all 6,143 streets in Scotland's largest city, using a web app to track and record every run.

This involved jogging along all streets that have boundaries with Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.

The Gazette:

Much of his challenge was completed in 10km segments, covering everything from housing schemes to industrial estates.

Michael, 33, said: “It started as a use of the exercise we had in the first lockdown, when you were allowed out once a day.

“I started exploring my own neighbourhood a bit more. Then I discovered an athlete in America, Rickey Gates, who had ran every single street in San Francisco and he’d mapped it out and ticked them off and I thought that sounded like a good adventure.

“I’m very much an amateur runner. I’m not in the same category as Rickey Gates. I’m a teacher by day, so I was running after school.”

The Gazette:

When anyone asks Michael why he took on such an unusual challenge, his answer is simple.

“I used to go running around the exact same place every day and I realised I didn’t really know a lot about my own community," he said.

"It’s a good way to find out about where you live.”

As well as helping him stay fit, there was also an academic element to Michael’s adventure, as he has been researching the social history of parts of the city and specific streets as he ticked them off.

He said: “The history bit has been the most interesting, in a way.”