This year we had 11 brave volunteers who challenged both their physical and mental stamina to complete the gruelling 26 miles of the London marathon for us! Our runners were, Richard Allen – Skilled Labour Services, Louise Collins – Lighthouse Safety, Peter Cullen – GKR Scaffolding, George Dance-Harvey – FM Conway, John Hutchings – Shanly Homes, Lyndsey Gallagher – Gallagher Group, Michael Hughes =Cavendish Professionals, Bryan Williams – Costain, Stephen Watts – Bennett Construction, Alex Clark – Walter Lilly and John McClusky.
Collectively they raised a staggering £54,000! We managed to catch up (just about!) with some of our runners who have shared their experiences of the lead up to the event and the challenges on the day itself.
John Hutchings – Shanly Homes
Having just turned 60 in April I decided to buy myself a monster truck as a treat, as well as train again for the London marathon. On hindsight, neither were very sensible ideas, but I thought, what the hell, you only live once! I last ran the marathon 32 years ago so I was definitely emotional as I crossed the finish line. In the photo I’ve got a huge smile on my face as I’d just spotted my wife in the crowd, just as I was about to turn onto the Mall. My next big smile was when I got back to the hotel and saw an ice cold glass of beer with my name on it! I am so proud that all my training and all my supporters have helped to raise over £13,000 for the Lighthouse Club.
Louise Collins – Lighthouse Safety
I loved every minute of it, it was such a great atmosphere. The support and energy from the crowd was like nothing I have ever seen before.
I achieved a personal best of 3hr 56 mins 6 secs and raised over £2200.
Richard Allen – Skilled Labour Services
Preparation for the race was going ok until the middle of august when I unfortunately injured my back – so the last six weeks of training were disrupted and all I could manage was two or three runs per week at up to 10 miles distance. After a few sessions of physio I was able at least to make the start line. It was great running around our capital city, seeing all the landmarks with huge support all the way around the course. I managed to do the first 15 miles in under 2 hrs 30 but then the lack of training showed up with tight hamstrings, cramp and back pain but managed to hang on and finish in 4 hrs 47. I was really pleased to get it done and reach the goal of completing the course in a reasonable time. A day to remember.
Bryan Williams – Tideway East
Bryan, a Construction Superintendent working for Tideway East completed the course in just over five hours. Reflecting on the London Marathon, Bryan said: “The experience of the day was truly amazing – to be running on the streets of London and see how Londoners came together to support all the people running for great causes. The emotion of crossing the finishing line made me really think about how much of a difference all those people running would make to charities and how much sense of pride people had in completing the Marathon.”
We know that running the marathon is a huge commitment. Against the backdrop of the perils of training, overcoming injuries and sacrificing your own time to make sure you are ‘run ready’, just crossing the line is a mammoth achievement. Thank you to all our runners and supporters, you are amazing!
