James versus Marathon
Event: Greater Manchester Marathon 2012 on 29/04/2012
£710.20 raised of £500.00 target
33 donations
My Target:
£500.00
£710.20 raised so far
How to make a donation
Donate online at - www.justgiving.com/JamesThomasMarathon
By mobile internet Scan this code on your smartphone to go straight to James Thomas's page.
By text message to donate £10 Text NPEH59 £10
to 70070
My story
26.2 miles or
42.16 kilometres or
46,145 yards
However you look at it, the marathon is a really long way and on April 29th 2012 I'll be standing at the start of the Greater Manchester Marathon, which is back after a ten-year absence, ready to spend over four hours running without a break.
Preparing for the race means embarking on a six month training schedule, straight through the winter months in wind, rain, and snow. I'll be training five times a week, running up to 35 miles every week.
I am running my first marathon in aid of a charity that I have been involved with since leaving Manchester in 2007. The Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group (SWVG) has been helping refugees across Hampshire since it founded in 2001.
After visiting asylum seekers housed in Winchester Prison in 2001, seven volunteers trained and set up a pilot scheme befriending refugees in Southampton. In the last ten years over 150 visitors have worked with 250 clients, over periods that have lasted several years. SWVG is solely a volunteer organisation, meaning the vast majority of donations go straight to helping refugees rather than paying administration costs.
For the past three years, I've been a member of the fundraising committee and acted as a visitor for two clients from Kurdistan and the Congo. This has allowed me to see first-hand the incredible work SWVG continues to achieve with minimal resources. As a small charity, SWVG's continued presence is reliant on personal donations and its own fundraising activities.
Ensuring SWVG's work continues into 2012 is motivation enough to keeping me going each step of the way. Please dig deep to sponsor me and directly contribute to the fantastic work carried out for an often-forgotten and mistreated group in society.
You can follow my training progress every day on DailyMile and see the schedule I'm following here.
My gallery 3
My updates 1
Last Sunday I finished the Greater Manchester Marathon in 3:45, well under my original target time of 3 hours. Thanks for all the donations, you've all helped to smash my target of £500. The race went perfectly apart from the awful weather! Pictures here: http://bit.ly/IC0fpD
My charity
Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group
Charity Registration No. 1103093
SWVG befriends and supports refugees and asylum seekers in the Southampton area
Donations 33
Donation by Anonymous on 07/05/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Congratulations James. I hope the weather was better with you than it was here....
Donation by Anne Leeming on 30/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Woohoo, well done James, great time and sounds like perfect weather :-)
Donation by Clare Broadbent on 29/04/12
£20.00
Well done bro, very proud of you. The weather is pretty shocking today, hope you've packed your wellies?!!
Donation by Hayley, Alan and Hayden on 29/04/12
£15.00
+ £3.75 Gift Aid
I don't really believe in charities... just looking to offset some tax, but good luck nonetheless.
Donation by Darren on 23/04/12
Good Luck Thanks for doing this fpr SWVG
Donation by Jilly Cooke on 14/04/12
£10.00
All the very best.
Donation by John Wyllie on 14/04/12
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Of course more likely to be cool and wet in M'cr
Donation by John Launder on 13/04/12
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Good luck James. Every mile will make a difference. Christine
Donation by Christine Knight on 13/04/12
£25.00
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Thanks James, tremendous effort. Those we help will appreciate it. Good luck on the day Hazel SWVG
Donation by Hazel Still on 12/04/12
£25.00
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Good luck from SWVG fundraisers
Donation by John Mellor on 12/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Happy to put you over the £500 mark :) Good luck James!
Donation by Mike Assenti on 03/04/12
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
All the very best of luck, James. We'll be rooting for you!
Donation by Toby, Sally & Alice x on 01/04/12
£24.00
+ £6.00 Gift Aid
Good luck and lets see a sub 3.30 time!
Donation by Christopher Cooke on 01/04/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Run james, RUN!!!!
Donation by Helen, Mark and Pippa O'Neil on 18/03/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
If you do it in a Cardiff City shirt I'll double it. If you do it in a Man City shirt I'll break ya legs ;-p
Donation by Alistair HEAP on 28/02/12
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Despite the insults being a TA Brummy/Blackberry user. Thought I'd better give a donation. . hope you reach your PB target. Well done.
Donation by TA Brummy aka Roy BLICK on 17/02/12
£20.00
+ £5.00 Gift Aid
Hello Son, At last .... look forward to seeing you in March , Good Luck -- Mum and Angus xx
Donation by Gail Thomas on 07/02/12
£30.00
+ £7.50 Gift Aid
Right Thomas, that's 26.2 basic and I'm offering a 2x modifier if you beat your own personal time target, which is currently 4:00 I believe? SMASH IT.
Donation by timdp on 23/01/12
£26.20
+ £6.55 Gift Aid
Donation by jennifer thomas on 13/12/11
£50.00
+ £12.50 Gift Aid
Good luck James - look forward to hearing of your success Pauline and Rowan
Donation by Pauline Bailey on 04/12/11
£10.00
Good luck James - great cause
Donation by David Birch on 01/12/11
£25.00
+ £6.25 Gift Aid
Good luck with the marathon, and for all that training!
Donation by Kevin Brown on 30/11/11
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Will you be running in an Arsenal shirt?
Donation by Pam Dewhirst on 28/11/11
£10.00
+ £2.50 Gift Aid
Best of luck! I'll find a Dojo problem for you to mull as you're bored along the way :)
Donation by Andrew Ferrier on 24/11/11
Donation summary
- * Online donations£690.20
- Offline donations£20.00
- Text donations£0.00
- Total raised£710.20
- Gift Aid£162.55
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