When Speedo Mick started stomping around the UK in his “knickers” his plan was to put a smile on a few faces – and raise a few quid.
Nine years later, dad Michael Cullen, 58, has marched to his final landmark, after raising £1million for charity. But behind his charity work lies a tale of heartbreak and struggle.
He has opened up on his 20-year battle with addiction which prompted him to walk 6,000 miles in his pants.
Over the last nine years he has also swum the English Channel and climbed three mountains – one of them twice. And while not the first person to take on the elements, he is almost certainly the only one to have done it wearing blue Speedos.
But when Mick crossed the finish line of his latest stomp from Land’s End to John o’Groats on Saturday, he revealed he was “running on fumes” and it was his final march.
The granddad told the Mirror: “I think I’m still absorbing it because I’m only a couple of days off the walk. But a million quid is just unbelievable, it is a dream come true.
“I had a vision but I never had a plan, the plan was just to put a smile on a few people’s faces.”
Now living in Camden, London, Mick grew up in Dovecot, Liverpool – at a time when the city had been politically annexed and left thousands in poverty. The result saw many turn to a life of drugs.
“In the 80s the whole of Liverpool was bombarded with addiction problems.”
Mick said. It was like a silent bomb had gone off, people lost limbs through it, they lost their lives and loved ones, it ripped through the community.
“The road was littered with people drinking and using substances. Poverty and deprivation leads people into that life, because you’ve not got a lot to lose.
“You want to extract yourself from the situation because your reality is hard to deal with. My reality was trauma. If you get one person clean the ripple effect is massive.”
The former painter and decorator moved to the capital more than two decades ago, and it was here he would meet the friend who would help him into step recovery. In London he would also meet his wife of 11 years, Rachel, and started running marathons in a bid to give something back.
But after problems with his knee, Mick was forced to find other ways to challenge himself and signed up to swim the Channel in 2016.
A bizarre health and safety rule meant “nothing below the groin” could be worn for the swim, and Speedo Mick was born.
Nearly a decade later, his foundation has given out grants and funded projects at addiction charities nationwide backed by stars like football pundit Jamie Carragher.
And while his dream to help others has come true, for Mick just the fact he is alive today feels like a miracle.
He said: “I still can’t believe I’m here, I shouldn’t be here, I’ve tried to take my life a couple of times.
“I love being a positive beacon of light because I wasn’t. I’ll never forget how dark that was, so desperate, painful, lonely and isolating, I was there for 20 years,” Mick adds, fighting back tears.
“Speedo Mick is the best side of me. I can’t always be that but when I am struggling Rachel says to me “what would Speedo Mick do?”.
