A NUMBER of Islanders are gearing up to get their running shoes on for the London marathon on Sunday.
They include Airport firefighter Sam Horsfall and bank worker Anna Goncalves who are raising funds for Jersey Hospice Care and Headway by running the 26.2 miles.
Sam only realised that she was doing the marathon when her number came through four weeks ago, but she was confident that she would be fully fit on the day.
The Jersey Spartan Athletic Club member said: ‘I am really looking forward to it and have been running between 17 and 20 miles and still keep to my best time. This will be my seventh marathon. My best time is 3 hr 25 min, in the Jersey marathon last year.
Anna’s best time is 3 hr 29 min in Berlin last year. She is hoping to raise £1,000 for Headway and Sam is raising money for Jersey Hospice.
Picture: Sam Horsfall and Ana Goncalves
After running the New York marathon last November as a 60th birthday present to himself, Islander Jeremy Johnson is now preparing to run his first London marathon.
The 61-year-old consultant at Hawksford International began training for the run back in January. ‘It will be amazing,’ he said. ‘My friends have been really supportive and the training isn’t going too badly so far. My aim is just to survive it, really. I know it will be a fantastic atmosphere if it is even half as good as New York was.’
Mr Johnson started running at the age of 55, when he joined the Jersey Hash House Harriers. But it was only last year that he felt ready to try his first marathon.
‘It was a 60th birthday present to myself – that was a bit of a milestone, so I felt I had to do something,’ he said.
He completed the New York marathon in 4 hr 22 min 18 sec, but his aim for London is just to finish the run.
Mr Johnson is aiming to raise £2,100 for the RNLI. He chose the charity because his mother, Lady Thompstone, was the chairman of the Lifeboat Guild between 1976 and 1985 and vice-president from 1986 until her death in 2002.
• Picture: Jeremy Johnson and Anna Messervy-Evans are ready for London Picture: Richard Wainwright (00673795)
Two women who became friends through their mutual love of running have been training for the London marathon together.
Vicky Barratt (37) and Annie Vaudin (40) met through another friend in October and have been running together ever since.
This will be Mrs Vaudin’s first marathon in London, but she ran one in Paris just three weeks ago. In that and the London run she will have raised over £1,000 for Variety.
Mrs Vaudin has been running for three years and has previously done four half-marathons in Jersey and a ten-kilometre run. She completed the Paris run in 4 hr 0 min 34 sec and said that she would love to finish London in less than four hours. ‘I must be mad for doing two marathons so close together,’ she said.
Mrs Barratt has been running for four years and completed her first London marathon last year. She has also finished two in Jersey, in 2007 and 2008. In London she will be aiming to beat her personal best and finish in 3 hr 25 min. She is aiming to raise £1,000 for Brig-Y-Don children’s home.
Mrs Vaudin is married to Calvin and is the director of a corporate service company. Mrs Barratt, who has lived in Jersey for two years, is married to John and they have two children, Jessie and Joseph. She is an aerobics instructor at Les Quennevais and also runs Vik’s Fit Kids at a number of local primary schools.
Mrs Barratt started running four years ago when someone at her old gym started an outdoor running club. And now she plans to do the same thing – launching a running club ‘for women who say they can’t run’. That is due to start in May on Tuesday evenings at Les Quennevais to help Islanders prepare for the Race For Life. Anyone interested in joining the new club should e-mail vicky1@jerseymail.co.uk.
Jerseyman Ben Campbelton (24), who now lives in south London, aims to run the 26.2 mile London marathon in under four hours and hopes to raise £1,500 for people who are deaf and blind.
Sense is a national charity that has supported and campaigned for children and adults who are deaf and blind for more than 50 years.
Mr Campbelton, a former Victoria College student and now an events set builder, said that it was a worthy charity to support. ‘This is my first marathon, and I don’t really consider myself a runner – let alone a long-distance runner!’
‘On 15 March I completed the Adidas Silverstone half-marathon in 1 hr 52 min. That was my longest run to date. My previous experience of running involved the dreaded Prep cross-country, spearheaded by the ever enthusiastic headmaster; Mr Hibbs. The bog on Fountain Lane claimed many trainers, and often whole children. Out of about 90 runners, I often posted results in the late 80s. But I am really hoping to complete the London marathon in less than four hours.’
Mr Campbelton grew up in Grouville and Green Island and his extended family now all live in St Clement. His mother and stepfather, Gaye and Anthony Olsen, live in St Aubin and are going over to London to cheer him onn.
Mr Campbelton has been training for the race by going for long runs with a friend along the Thames. He said: ‘I’m really pleased to be braving the London marathon for Sense because it offers a vital lifeline to deaf and blind people, offering them support and teaching skills to live as independently as possible.
‘I would like to thank all my friends who have sponsored me so far and I am still appealing for sponsorship, so please, please – dig deep and support me!’
The 24-year-old can be sponsored by logging on to www.justgiving. com/bencampbelton.
Highlands College lecturer Tash Stone is to run in the London Marathon and will dedicate her efforts to a charity looking for a cure for a very rare disease.
The condition known as Lafora disease, which is believed to affect only one person in a million, is suffered by a former Highlands College student John Sharp (19), whose life has been shattered by its devastating symptoms, which include seizures which are so severe they have on occasions caused the dislocation of his shoulders.
John lived a normal life until four years ago, when he had a seizure and was eventually diagnosed in the UK as having Lafora disease. His condition is now severe and his mother, Alice Morgan, has created a charity called Hope for John to raise money in an effort to find a cure for it.
Tash is no stranger to running in marathons – she has completed two Jersey marathons and took part in a relay version last year. On Sunday it will be the first time that she has taken part in the London event, which she will be running with her husband, Paul, and some friends.
Asked why she had chosen the Hope for John charity as the cause she would be supporting, she said that staff and students at Highlands College had raised a large amount for it.
‘I have a son, Kurtis, who is the same age as John Sharp, so his story was particularly poignant for me. I approached Alice to offer my support in this way,’ she said.
While training for marathons, Tash is always accompanied by her Jack Russell dog, Cookie, who loves keeping pace with her.
Alice said that it was fantastic that Tash was running in the marathon on behalf of Hope for John. ‘I know she has gone all out to raise as much money as possible,’ she said. ‘It is times like this that I wish I could tell John about all of the support he is receiving.’
The Hope for John charity has also been given a boost by some of the proceeds of a book about Liverpool Football Club written by Keith Salmon, who regularly visits Jersey.
A number of other fund-raising events are also being staged in the Island this year for the charity.
The website www.chelseahope.org features John’s story. Anyone wishing to sponsor Tash can contact her on 077977 57698.
• Picture: Alice Morgan with a poster of her son, John, and Natasha Stone, who will run run the London marathon to raise funds for research into Lafora disease. Picture by Jon Guegan (00664583)
Fifteen runners are running on Sunday in aid of the Variety Club.
The runners hope to raise up to £20,000 between them for the club, which helps disabled and underprivileged children in Jersey.
Team captain Stuart Fell said that the group had all been in training for months to rise to the challenge of completing the 26 miles. Some were hoping to complete the marathon in 3½ hours, while others were hoping to finish it in 5½.
The moneyraised will go towards helping create new facilities at a playground in Trinity School.
• Pictured are (from left) Richard Watts, Pauline Alderman, Stuart Fell, Angela Davey, Anna Tredant, Paul Alder and James Lambert Picture by Richard Wainwright (00670375)
