Tony's Marvellous 'Marathon in a Month'
Tony Bainbridge has raised a fabulous £3800 after completing his 'Marathon in a Month' challenge by running 2 half marathons in one month in memory of Valerie Waters.
Tony overcame a number of training injuries to run in the Windsor Half Marathon on September 21st and completed it in 1hr 52mins which was a fantastic achievement considering that furthest he had ever run before was a 10k race in 2000! Tony then completed the Marseille-Cassis Half Marathon on 26 th October after attacking the mountains and 20km of rough roads which separate Marseille from Cassis, along with 12,000 Frenchmen and women. He even managed to improve his time in the sunshine of the South of France by 5 minutes to 1hr 47mins!
Tony came up with the 'Marathon in a Month' idea as a way to raise funds in memory of a close friend:
'Valerie Waters, who lived in Aldbury, was a very dear friend to Sally and me, and godmother to our son Jack. She was told she only had a few months to live after a tumor was found on her brain; as always she did thorough research and discovered The Iain Rennie Hospice At Home. She was very impressed and would have used your services if she had been given the time but unfortunately she passed away suddenly during treatment. She had planned a tea party in Aldbury to raise funds. 
When I researched The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home I was impressed by the range of services and evident dedication of many people connected with your organisation, and so I thought the best way to help would be a spot of fundraising to make up for what Valerie was not given time to do herself.'
Tony has raised a fantastic £3800 in sponsorship from his two marathons which included pocket money from his generous daughter Carys who offered to forego her pocket money to help her Dad raise sponsorship! Thank you very much to Tony and his family - well done!
If you would like to sponsor Tony you can visit his fundraising website www.justgiving.com/tonybainbridge or call 01442 890222.
3rd November 2008
