By Lydia Solomon, Community Fundraiser
The Set-up
The London Marathon is our most important day of the year for sports fundraising, and what a day it was - 14 runners, one proposal and a very happy Community Fundraiser!
Preparations for the event began last September, when we were finally allocated our precious Golden Bond places. We had seven this year due to a couple of runners having carried over their places after suffering injuries in 2009 and it wasn’t long before the applications started flooding in.
After days of reading through the applications and making some tough decisions, we finally allocated our Golden Bond places to those who we were confident would do a good job.
The other runners were made up of those lucky enough to get their own place through the general ballot. It is always touching when people decide they want to raise money for us over all the other charities out there, so I was very grateful for this.
Fundraising and preparations
And so The Sick Children's Trust London Marathon team was formed and what a good bunch they were! Fundraising began straight away with online sponsorship pages being set up left, right and centre and fundraising materials being sent out regularly.
Unfortunately we had a couple of runners drop out due to injury, but with training of this intensity this is to be expected and these runners have both pledged to use their deferred place to raise money for us next year.
A couple of months before the big day my attentions turned to plans for a charity presence on the day. This is always a big job, as when there are 35,000 runners and over double that number in spectators to take into consideration, there is a lot to think about! I was lucky enough to have my wonderful colleagues offer to help out on the day, so that was one less thing to worry about.
We decided to set up a cheering point near the mile 12 marker so that we could give runners a much needed boost half way round. This would then be followed by a meet and greet at the finish and a post-Marathon reception at a restaurant near the finish line.
So once I had briefed my army of willing volunteers and let our runners know exactly where we would be, I was ready.
The Big Day
Before I knew it, it was April 25th and the day of the Marathon had arrived! Up bright and early I headed to Bermondsey to our cheer point. My boyfriend Gregg, who was also running the Marathon for our charity, travelled into central London with me but we parted ways at Waterloo as he nervously went off to get his train to Greenwich.
I couldn’t have been happier with the turn out at the cheering point. All my colleagues had their Sick Children’s Trust t-shirts on and were waving balloons and a few had brought friends and family. Plus lots of my friends and Gregg’s family had shown up to cheer him on and the father of one of our other runners was there as well so we had a good crowd.
At about 10:30am the marathon masses started to make their way to mile 12 and we had a great time cheering people on, even those who weren’t running for us. Everyone was happy, music was being blasted out from the windows of nearby flats and the atmosphere was electric!
The proposal
Then came the moment that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. My boyfriend, Gregg, had wanted to know specifically where we would be so that he could come over and say hello quickly as he passed. When he finally appeared he did just that, but instead of saying his quick hello before running off, he got down on one knee and produced a diamond ring from the back pocket of his shorts! I was overcome with shock and I was so caught up in the moment that I almost forgot to say yes, until Gregg said that I had better say yes or else he was going get a cramp staying on one knee! So I did and he ran off to finish the race.
But the story took a dramatic turn when Gregg collapsed half a mile before the finish. His body had overheated, with his core temperature rising to over 40 degrees and his heart rate reaching 220 bpm! After two hours of ice-packs and popping jelly babies, Gregg was given the devastating news that because he had not technically finished he would not be getting a medal. But after months of training this was not an option for him so he convinced them to take him back to where he had collapsed so that he could finish. With a bit of help he triumphantly hobbled across the line in an overall time of 6:34:16 (although he was on for a time of just four hours before he had collapsed).
A happy ending
Happily, all of our runners finished and with some really good times. We then treated them to a top notch buffet at the Mint Leaf restaurant on the Haymarket where they were also offered sports massages.
So all in all I’m really happy with our London Marathon 2010, our runners enjoyed themselves and so far we have raised more than £24,000 - Bring on 2011!
Now Gregg and I need to start our own fundraising to pay for our wedding!
