Following a 24 hour Triathlon that a group of friends, my wife and I organized in the summer, we rather stupidly agreed to run in the Cardiff Marathon and Half Marathon. Having raised nearly £6000 for the Macmillan Care unit in Evesham Hospital where my Father was wonderfully cared for during the final weeks of his battle with cancer, we decided against begging for sponsorship money off the same people who had so generously donated money in our triathlon efforts. Seeing the courage and dignity with which people in the care of the Macmillan nurses tackle their situation, was motivation enough to put ourselves through a certain amount of discomfort.

A friend and relatively experienced marathon runner was seeking a time of below 3hrs 15 mins in order to qualify for the London marathon as an elite runner. I decided to run along with her and see how things went. At 20 miles we were within the target time and so we made the push for the finish. Our time of around 3hrs 5mins was far quicker than we could have hoped for but I think the flat course and kind conditions assisted our efforts. My wife achieved a time of 1hr 42mins which again beat her expectations.

This was our first experience of being part of an event such as this and it was a wonderful occasion. The genuine good will that was shown from competitors, marshals and the supporters was overwhelming and the feeling of running into the Millennium stadium and running the last few metres around the pitch is a memory that will stay with us for a long time.

Although, as I mentioned, we did not seek sponsorship money for running in Cardiff, we have an account set up for raising funds for the Macmillan lead care unit at Evesham Hospital in memory of my father. If you would like to support this cause then cheques can be sent to school made payable to ‘David’s Triathlon Fund’. We are planning to take the total amount raised over to the unit at half term.

Nigel Richardson