More than a Marathon!

Last week saw some super achievements but let’s start with the one which started first! On Thursday, Richard Wilson completed his fifth marathon distance in five days. This marvellous challenge, to raise £5555.55 for St Benedict’s Hospice, started with London Marathon where Richard, 63, was cheered by the London crowds. Monday saw him run himself dizzy on Silksworth track; he was joined by family, church friends and Stroller dudes to help him pass the time as he literally ran in circles. On Tuesday, Richard ran the streets of Sunderland, taking in the Sunderland half and 10k routes, again with fantastic support. Wednesday was a jog to the relays with a 1.7 leg to end this marathon with a sprint and Thursday was a treadmill finale. Although the ‘dreadmill’ may not be exciting, it was ideal in that it allowed all of Richard’s supporters to pop along to cheer him on and shake buckets at the shoppers to raise more cash. Richard achieved something amazing, for a superb cause, with cheers and support from his wife Denise and the rest of his family – he also had his church and Stroller ‘family’ supporting and willing him to success. Brilliantly well done Richard, wish we had space to write more!

Also running more than the marathon distance were the Highland Flingers. Ant Tiernan, Dusty Barnes, David Hetherington and Luke Kennedy headed North to run 53 miles of the West Highland Way. David ran a magnificent 12:14:03 followed a short 30 minutes later by the rest of the gang – well done Ultra Strollers and massive apologies if I’ve missed/mixed any details!

Next venue was Keswick, on Sunday, for an undulating and beautiful half marathon. A good turn out by the Strollers for this one and it would appear that a hugely enjoyable day was had by all.

Phew, busy bank holiday running. Well done to each and everyone of you who donned running gear and got out there!