In 2011 I ran the London Marathon and raised money for two charities, one of which was MacMillan. As the donations came in I was overwhelmed by the very personal stories that people were telling me about their experiences of MacMillan and the support that they and their families had received from MacMillan nurses and staff.

I now fundraise purely for MacMillan and try to do at least one event every year to raise funds, as well as self funding other events to raise awareness of the great work MacMillan do.

In these days of austerity it is very hard to ask people to part with their hard earned money and I firmly believe that the challenges I do have to reflect a level of commitment that justifies me asking you to sponsor me.

Last year I completed my first Ultra Challenge, walking 100km from London to Brighton in 30 hours. I completed this as part of a team of four. We trained together and walked together. As I can't think of anything that is a notch up from this I intend to do it again this year. Therefore on Saturday May 24 I'll be setting off from Old Deer Park in Richmond. This year the challenge I have set myself is to do it solo and arrive in Brighton early on Sunday morning instead of late on Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping to complete the course in 20 hours. 10 hours quicker than last year! Allowing for food stops and night time kit changes the only way I have any chance of achieving this will be to run some sections of the course. I don't actually want to think about how tough this is going to be so I will let my brother, and team mate to describe his experience from last year.

Michael's story:

When we set off last year we thought we had trained hard but we had no idea of what lay in store for us over the next 30 hours. If we had, I think we would have stayed at the start line. The physical pain and exhaustion along with the mental fatigue caused by 36 hours without sleep would possible have broken us if it hadn't been for the fact that we had to carry on for the team. When things got really bad, David was there to spur us on and convince us that the reward and memories of finishing would long outlive the pain.

We have all taken a step back this year, saving ourselves for future challenges but David was determined to give this event another go. Whilst we have the memories and the medals, David is driven by the fact that whilst he's physically able to he wants to raise as much money for MacMillan as possible. I will be there on the day to support from the side but I know from experience that the best motivator of all, at the point when he will need to dig deep, will be to know that what he is doing will be helping to make a difference.

This can only happen if you support him. Any donation, no matter how small, is genuinely appreciated. If you aren't able to make any donation but still want to show your support please go to 'Team Walk the Dinosaur's page on Facebook and click the 'like' button.

Thank you in advance, on behalf of David, Team Walk the Dinosaur and MacMillan.

Michael Gateshill.

The obligitory footnote...

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