Andy
and Gemma took on the challenge of the Flora London Marathon and came
out smiling, read about their journey through training, fundraising
and the race.
How
it came about
In
October 2004 Andy and Gemma applied for the opportunity to run for The
Disabilities Trust as Golden Bond runners in the 25th Annual Flora London
Marathon. The Disabilities Trust is a fast-growing charity offering
leading-edge personal care, special needs education, rehabilitation
and specialist housing.
They
offer high-quality, innovative services to:
children
and adults with autism
people
with an acquired brain injury
adults
with a profound physical disability
adults
with a learning disability
They were
lucky enough to be offered a place in November 2004 which meant we could
now fully concentrate on fund raising and training.
The
Training
Their training consisted of 16 weeks of early morning and evening runs
that gradually got more intense up until the 14th week, then they had
2 weeks to rest and prepare for race day.
Most weeks would cover a long run, interval training, hill training,
and threshold training as well as covering core stability and strengthening
work in the gym.
Diet
and Nutrition
This was a major part of the pairs preparation
as they had to keep their diets to 70% carbs, 10-20% fats, and 10-20%
proteins. They also took vitamin C to help boost their immune systems
to avoid infections.
Pasta,
potatos, bread and rice was the bulk of their diet for 4 months.
The
Fund Raising
This was to be one of the hardest parts of the challenge as they had
set themselves a massive target of £4500.
Gemma used her skills as a fully qualified Physiotherapist to offer
sponsored massages to friends and family, which became so popular that
people from all over the south of England came to get some treatment
and pledge some money. These events brought in several hundreds of pounds.
Their main event though was a 48 hour Carp fishing competition held
at Wintons Fishery in west sussex.
They gathered 12 anglers who fished in teams of 2, non stop for 48 hours
to catch the largest weight of carp. Gemma and Andy set up a marquee
where they cooked food for anglers and spectators, and held raffles
and an auction of fishing goods.
They even
managed to "hook" Jimmy Hill into presenting the trophies
to the winning pair, Colin Maynard and Neil Young.
The event
was a great success and raised £1725 for the Trust.
The
Race
So the fund raising was a success, as
was the training, so how would the pair do in the race. They were hoping
to complete the 26.2 mile course in around 3 hours 30 minutes, and all
was going really well at the half way point when they registered a split
time of 1 hour 45 minutes. However at 6 miles Gemma suffered a bad sickness
spell and had to stop for a while to regain her composure. This cost
the pair time and they were really starting to cramp up.
By 20 miles they had had to stop again for another spell of sickness.
But they were very determined to carry on regardless. The pair struggles
through the final 6.2 miles to record a very respectable time of 4 hours
6 minutes for their first marathon.
Friends
and family were there to greet the triumphant pair across the line.
Both intend to compete again next year, so get your cash ready!!
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