At the end of 2013 we announced that Clare would be running the London Marathon for two charities close to her heart, Cancer Research UK and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

A Celebration Day in January with ITS went so well that Clare wanted to up her fundraising target to a mammoth £5000. With an extra £2000 to raise she organised another fundraising event with an evening for friends and family at an Indian buffet. Good food, some questionable karaoke and a raffle later there was only a little way to go.

Four months have flown by and the big day has happened! Gemma and Alex along with many of Clare’s friends & family were there supporting with banners, loud cheers and of course personalised hats. It was such an unexpectedly warm day with no cooling breeze so this of course slowed the running pace down whilst the supporters enjoyed the sunshine from the sidelines in the crowd – Sorry, Clare!

Clare completed the marathon in 5:45 which although slower than her predicted pace was a huge achievement given the weather & enormity of an event like the London Marathon. She has raised an amazing £5066 thus far! I think you’ll agree this is an incredible achievement and all of your kind donations definitely spurred Clare on to cross the finishing line.

“I’d like to thank all of you who donated to my fundraising and attended the events to raise money & awareness for two great charities. Through the really hard moments on Sunday I kept thinking about the words of support and encouragement that had been flooding over the past 6 months and that really spurred me on.

The support from the crowds on Sunday was something I don’t think I’ll ever experience again so thank you if you were one of those cheering us runners along. I’ll now be taking a well-earned rest before I take part in a half marathon in 7 weeks! My fundraising page is still up so if you’d like to make a donation it really would be welcomed.

As I crossed the finish line I said ‘never again’ but in 2 days it seems I can now only remember the good times and I’m preparing to enter the ballot for next year’s marathon!” – Clare  

 

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