An athlete has run 185km around Malta, Gozo and Comino in two days to raise awareness of dementia after experiencing the effect the disease has had on his mother.

Rodney Muscat started running from St Paul’s Bay on Good Friday at 4.30am and completed his challenge 49 hours later on Easter Sunday after running the equivalent of four marathons around the Maltese islands.

The 46-year-old found the motivation to complete his challenge by thinking of his mother, Josephine, who has lived with dementia for the last five years.

“The times when I ran alone, usually at night, I was thinking about my mum. She now lives in a world of darkness; she only eats and sleeps for a living.”

Rodney and his mother, Josephine, who was diagnosed with dementia five years ago.

He described how, when she was first diagnosed with the condition, she began experiencing hallucinations.

“Before she moved to a home, we lived in the same apartment block, and late at night she would knock on our door and tell us that someone broke in and is hiding behind the curtains,” he recalls.

“I would go and check and there would be no one there. This was one of the scariest moments we experienced.”

Her condition has deteriorated since.

“She knows that when I visit that I am someone important to her, but she doesn’t remember my name.

“My father has been dead for 25 years, and there are times when she tells me that he visited her. I just have to accept what she says.”

During his challenge, Rodney was supported by his wife Joanna, who joined him for the first two kilometres and whose father also lives with the condition.

7,500 people living with dementia

In Malta it is estimated there are around 7,500 people living with dementia, the loss of cognitive functioning that affects thinking, memory and reasoning.

Rodney, who has previously run around the Isle of Wight and Malta, trained for his challenge by long weekends of running, walking and cycling.

He ran through Mistra, Selmun and on to Ċirkewwa, where three friends were waiting for him to catch a ferry together to Comino.

After running through Comino, they jumped on a boat to Għajnsielem, and from there, they ran and scrambled around the coast of Gozo.

At 11.15pm, he arrived back in Ċirkewwa, where a friend was waiting with fresh clothes and some warm food.

After a snack and resting his feet, Rodney continued his journey. His wife met him at Riviera at 3am on Saturday morning.

Rodney and his wife Joanna on Sunday when he finished the challenge. His top reads: ‘My mom’s fight is my fight’.

From Riviera, he made his way to Dingli, met another friend and ran on to Marsaxlokk.

The most challenging times were at night when he worried that he might fall and “it was so dark that we avoided certain paths”.

From Marsaxlokk he made his way to St Paul’s Bay, with a pit-stop for food at Valletta.

“At that point I was sleepwalking and I needed a rest,” he said.

While he rested at certain points throughout his journey, he only managed to sleep for one hour.

Once he arrived back home, he celebrated with a sandwich, a snooze and a plate of sausages. And then it was time to visit the woman he did all this for.

“I brought a figolla which we shared with her roommates,” he said.

“While my mother did not understand what I did, her roommates were all very impressed and happy for me.”