Congratulations and thank you to our 2016 London Marathon runners

As in previous years, Cherry Lodge Cancer Care was well represented in the London Marathon. This is a demanding event that requires participants to make a huge commitment and to achieve a high level of fitness. Congratulations and very sincere thanks are due to all our runners for choosing to support Cherry Lodge in this way. Thank you too to all the people who have sponsored them already.

Please note that there is still time to sponsor our 2016 Virgin London Marathon runners either by clicking on the names in blue below to access their online fundraising pages (which will stay open for one month after the event) or via Tina at Cherry Lodge.

Thank you to our runners for supplying information and photographs:

Lorna Dudding finished the course in 4 hours 44 minutes. She does not have an online giving page but you can still sponsor her directly or via Tina.

Karen Graves finished the race in 6 hours 3 minutes. You can read about Karen and her reasons for supporting Cherry Lodge on her JustGiving page, which on 28th April showed a magnificent total of £5,157 plus £959 Gift Aid.

Kieran Storey, our youngest runner, aged 21, unfortunately had to stop with cramp at 17 miles but, after receiving treatment, was able to continue and finish in 5 hours 17 minutes. This experience hasn’t put him off at all and he is determined to take part again next year, possibly being a bit more careful with his training. He found the crowd hugely supportive especially over the last five kilometres and says that he felt he was almost carried by their enthusiasm, which he described as intoxicating. Keiran was inspired to raise money for us by his grandmother, a Cherry Lodge member who volunteers in our Barnet charity shop.

Arlene and Daniel Tate achieved times of in 3 hours 41 minutes and 3 hours 47 minutes respectively. Daniel has written to us that “all involved were very supportive. Even when people bumped into each other, and despite everyone’s tiredness, all interactions were positive and supportive. Also, the crowd were amazing. Random people turning up offering sweets and cut-up fruit. Finally I was amazed at how well organised it all was.” Daniel’s father died of cancer in the North London Hospice and his best mate’s father was helped by Cherry Lodge – making Daniel feel that he “just wanted to give something back”.

Cherry Lodge Cancer Care relies on fundraising to provide our wide range of information and support services free of charge to anyone affected by cancer. We can’t say this too often: ‘Thank you to everyone who takes part in a sponsored event for us and thank you to all their supporters!’

Click on the small images below to see larger, complete photographs.