My story

 

WELCOME 

Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page, I hope now you are here you are able to give generously. This 'story' has an overview of the events, a description of the charity, updates on events after they have happened and a bit on how to give.  Thank you again for visiting. 

WHAT AM I DOING? 

The four activities I plan on completing are three fairly normal marathons then finishing with a 35 mile ultramarathon.  The first run is the London Marathon on 22 April (see update below), the second is the 27 mile cross-country Three Forts Marathon on 6 May and the third is the Richmond Park Marathon on 20 May.  Only one week later (to stop it being too easy) I will be running the Spires and Shires 35 mile ultra-marathon across the rolling Northamptonshire countryside.  You may wonder why I am doing these? It is quite simple really: I have never run an ultramarathon and I have always wondered whether I can do it and if I can, whether it would be fun or will I just be bored out of my mind!  I’m not sure why I’m doing the additional marathons but it seemed a constructive way to occupy my time. I like fancy dress too and I think the London marathon is best enjoyed in fancy dress. 

WHO ARE WE RAISING SPONSORSHIP FOR? 

Those of you that know me well will be aware I am particular fond of the continent and people of Africa.  When I took my Diploma in Tropical Health and Hygiene four years ago the public health statistics we learnt were horrifying.  One such statistic that struck me was the horror of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa where 1:16 births result in maternal death.  The causes are multi-factorial and of course are related to extreme poverty and isolation from good clinical care – these mothers have no access to contraception or antenatal care, most of these births have no midwives or obstetricians present and many of these women are still really only adolescent girls and not fully developed women.  Each of these individual tragedies leaves an orphan or even a family of orphans and has wider implications on the high rates of infant mortality and a slowing in overall society development.  The United Nations understand the enormity of the problem and Millennium Development Goals 4 (Reduce child mortality) and particularly 5 (Improve maternal health) were conceived to address this issue specifically.   

The charity Safe Hands for Mothers was founded with the mission of engaging with local communities and government agencies to educate the population and facilitate the training of health workers.  It is a small charity and so not bogged down with administration costs some of its larger brethren suffer from.  Any sponsorship money you feel able to pledge will go directly to this charity (ideally with tax relief if you pay UK income tax) and their work.  More information can be found on the charity website at: www.safehands.org/

UPDATE ON THE LONDON MARATHON (23 APR 2012)

So yesterday was the London Marathon.  The votes were close between gecko and parrot but the parrot just won out.  The marathon went pretty well with my legs holding out the whole route without cramping or needing a rest (read: me being mentally weak and walking).  My mild foot injury was persistently obvious but manageable and in the end I finished in 3 hours 55 minutes.  Not the fastest but in the top third.  My legs today are nicely aching. Only three more runs to go.  There is an action photo in parrot garb taken on the embankment (around 24 miles) by the charity's support team on the site. Thank you everyone for your support so far.

UPDATE ON THE 3 FORTS MARATHON (6 MAY 2012)

I have successfully completed the second marathon (actually 27 1/2 miles) and given good weather I imagine it must be a beautiful run.  Sadly it rained, was pretty chilly and was either slippery mud or a sucking, adhesive mud, all the way around.  That and the hilly nature of the run made it challenging - essentially a very long core-stability work out. In spite of the conditions it was bizarrely a lovely day out and I finished it in 4hrs 19 mins (marathon distance in 4 hrs 8 mins).  Two days down the line now and I feel back to normal so I am looking forward to the Richmond Park marathon in two weeks and pleasingly I'm nearly half way through the runs.  Thank you for all the messages of support too.

SPONSORING THROUGH JUSTGIVING

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

 

 

My charity

SafeHands For Mothers

SafeHands For Mothers

Charity Registration No. 1097928

Our vision is a world where no woman dies giving life. We contribute to reducing maternal deaths by producing educational and training films about the importance of making pregnancy and childbirth safer. Our films can be shown in the remotest villages using innovative solar-powered DVD players.

Donations 110

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Woohoo

Donation by Crispin Porter on 24/04/12

£50.00

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Good luck for the rest of them

Donation by Stuart Harrisson on 23/04/12

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Well done Andrew, don't know how you did it!!

Donation by Nidhi Puri on 23/04/12

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Dear Andrew Congratulations!!! It was a very warm day and you did superbly well for an excellent cause

Donation by Seema and Sanjay on 23/04/12

£1,000.00

+ £250.00 Gift Aid

Loved cheering you on Andrew. Thank you for your efforts for SafeHands.

Donation by Alison Lurie on 23/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

Donation by Anonymous on 22/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Hope all the runs go really well.

Donation by Elaine and Chris Cox on 22/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Good luck Andrew, dn't break yourself. Love team hazard x

Donation by Sarah Hazard on 22/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Good luck Andrew - I'm keeping everything crossed for you. What a crazy but totally amazing challenge! Enjoy... ax

Donation by Alex Smith on 21/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Best of Luck tomorrow and for your next few! We'll be cheering for you. See you soon. Lots of love, K, J and C xx

Donation by Katy Granville-Chapman on 21/04/12

£75.00

+ £18.75 Gift Aid

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Well done for running for this great cause, and good luck, I look forward to seeing which costume won out, shame re the mankini!

Donation by naureen bhatti on 21/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck for tomorrow - unlikely to see you as I'll be a long way behind! Have fun and good luck for the rest of the runs. See you soon? xx

Donation by Niki Walters on 21/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck for tomorrow parrot! Hope you're not going to wear those feet shown on the gallery photo!!!!!

Donation by Walk-Me on 21/04/12

£30.00

+ £7.50 Gift Aid

Donation by Adam Brown on 21/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Well done on your huge effort for such a worthy cause.

Donation by Peter and Ali Weissberg on 20/04/12

£100.00

+ £25.00 Gift Aid

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You are crackers! But lots of admiration for you! Good luck x

Donation by Natalie Tebbatt on 20/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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I'll look out for the GECKO on Sunday

Donation by John Pompei on 20/04/12

£100.00

+ £25.00 Gift Aid

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Utter madness but brilliant! Probably too late to vote but I think the dalmation or parrot would be a good look!

Donation by Jo Leason on 20/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Have a great run - well done!

Donation by Shaughan Dickie on 20/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Just in time! Good luck.

Donation by Jason Dungu on 20/04/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Hi mate. Good luck. Don't let the parrot feathers slow you down.....

Donation by Bethany Stapleton on 19/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Best of luck, Andrew! Your efforts on behalf of SafeHands are amazing!

Donation by Susan Tanner on 18/04/12

£50.00

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Good luck. Will be cheering you on.

Donation by Britt Gustawsson on 18/04/12

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Great to see you are running for such a worth cause! Hope you enjoy the challenge!

Donation by William McKenna on 17/04/12

£75.00

+ £18.75 Gift Aid

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Wow - serious runner! I hope u get great pleasure from your achievement & thank you for doing it for such a fantastic cause!

Donation by Lily Bourne on 17/04/12

£200.00

Donation summary

  • * Online donations£5,604.20
  • Offline donations£1,100.00
  • Text donations£0.00
  • Total raised£6,704.20
  • Gift Aid£1,277.30

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.