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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Well done Andrew, Amazing effort - keep it going x

Donation by Maria Cox on 14/08/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Well done Andy - how many more to go? Had to sponsor you, you must remember how much I love running!!!

Donation by linda hawkins on 15/06/12

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Well done Andy

Donation by Julian Lentaigne on 12/06/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Amazing! Well done.... totally mad mind you.. but seriously impressed anyway. Cx

Donation by Colette Davey on 06/06/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Goodluck & Godbless!keep hydrated Doc!! Cheers to you and the good cause that will benefit :D

Donation by Marites James on 02/06/12

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Rather puts my impending 10k in the shade! Hope you don't suffer too much in the sunshine.

Donation by Kate Prior on 28/05/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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WOW!!! SO unbelievably impressed with all you've achieved! Can't even think what it would be like to run even 1 marathon!!! Love Katie and John x

Donation by Katie Mieville on 28/05/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Donation by Louise Robiati on 28/05/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck on the 35miles. Hope the leg holds up because crawling will take you a lot longer! Fi sends her best, Dom.

Donation by dominic weir on 26/05/12

£100.00

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Splendid effort! Vinod

Donation by Vinod Achan on 26/05/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

Donation by Julie Cottle on 11/05/12

£20.00

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I would type a message but my iPad won't let me and I am a technomong. Splendid work on the running though.

Donation by Jill Winters on 08/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Love the fancy dress - why wasn't it on for the second one? Well done on two excellent times! Hope Jethro can keep up with you.. A little top up..

Donation by Jeremy, Katy & Charlie G-C on 08/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Fantastic effort, and keep going - imagine you had wings!

Donation by The Glitter Fairy on 08/05/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Amazing Stuff Andy. Well done and good luck for the last couple of runs.

Donation by Hugo and Ceals Guthrie on 08/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Amazing person , wonderful cause. Keep up the good work!

Donation by CM on 07/05/12

£200.00

+ £50.00 Gift Aid

Donation by Samantha Pryke on 05/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Well done mate.

Donation by Nikos Apostolopoulos on 03/05/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Very well done and many many thanks

Donation by Anthony Silverstone on 03/05/12

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Well done, keep going!

Donation by James Moon on 30/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Well done Mr Chicken :o)

Donation by Michaela & Chris xxx on 30/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Well done you. I presume you're going to go faster next time!

Donation by Anthony Dickinson on 26/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Well done you crazy running person you. How about a simple walk with our respective dogs once you're done with the running?

Donation by Nick and Sabi Hughes on 25/04/12

£25.00

+ £6.25 Gift Aid

Donation by Anonymous on 25/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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Thank you so much for all this effort, we all at SafeHands appreciate just how hard it is and time consuming the training has been-but thank you

Donation by Gayle Morrison- Chair SafeHands on 24/04/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

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.