My story

Hi, thanks for taking the time to vist my 2012 Berlin Marathon JustGiving page in aid of the Sheffield Children's Hospital.

My aim...

My aim is to raise £200 in donations towards the great work that the hosiptal does including:

- Providing specialist facilities, such as a new digital x-ray suite, refurbished hydro-therapy pool, and a ground-breaking surgical navigation system (see http://www.tchc.org.uk/our-work);

- Opening new facilities, and;

- Funding vital research.

For more infomation on the work of the charity and projects they are currently working on, see http://www.tchc.org.uk/projects.

Why the Berlin Marathon? Am I crazy...

Over the last few years I've done loads of races including the Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Silverstone circuit half-marathons, plus lots of 10km and 5km races. However this year I was looking for a new challenge, and there was no way I was going to compete in the Oxfam TrailTrekker race again (100km hike in 29 hours straight, never agin, at least not until next year!) Also I've never ran a race in aid of a charity before and the Sheffield Children's Hospital is a great cause.

When did you decide to enter the race?

In November last year, me and both Andys had just finished watching Ash perform through their classic album 'Free All Angels' (setlist here: ) at the Manchester Ritz, and were enjoying a few post-gig pints in the Salisbury pub. 1am and a few pints of Old Perculiar later, Andy R and myself came to the agreement that entering the Berlin Marathon on 30th September (followed by the Octoberfest in Munich) would be a great idea... A few days later I completed the online entry form and starting checking EasyJet for flights.

So my entry is in, the flights and hotels have been booked, and the training plan has been mostly completed (excluding a few relaspses). My target time is under 4 hours but I'd like to hit my age-adjusted time of 3 hours 45 minutes.

Please help out with any donations you can spare - Just Giving allows you to donate any amount and this can be done by Debit/Credit Card and Paypal.

Cheers

Richard

The technical stuff...

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.

So please dig deep and donate now.

My gallery 9

My updates 4

‎48 mins 34 seconds at Bupa Great Yorkshire run - a new PB but really disappinted. On for 45 mins 30 secs at 5k, and lost it in the last 2k. That final hill and the heat was a killer.

02/09/12 13:44

Richard Ward Cheers for the donations so far - really appreciated. Did just under 2/3rds of a marathon yesterday (about half-way to Glossop and back). My knee is a bit sore today!

02/09/12 13:44

I've got a few more practice races coming up (since I haven't done any races since April) including the Endcliffe Park 10k and the Ashbourne half-marathon (near Derby, tbc).

28/08/12 20:21

Just under 5 weeks to go - The training is going ok and the plan is to push towards 3 hours in this week's long run. The Bupa Great Yorkshire 10k race is this Sunday which should be fun. I'm aiming for sub 45 mins although my Leeds festival weekend may not help my race prep!

28/08/12 20:20

My Teams

My company

My charity

The Children's Hospital Charity

The Children's Hospital Charity

Charity Registration No. 505002

We make an extraordinary hospital even better. We provide the best equipment your money can buy, we open new facilities & we fund vital research to change lives tomorrow. We transform the hospital space & add the little touches that make a big difference to families. Together, we do it for the kids.

Donations 15

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Good luck chaps! Remember to rehydrate before you celebrate!

Donation by Pete Doran on 28/09/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck Richard. The donation in mainly your poker losses anyway! And well done for not drinking this past month ;-)

Donation by Paul Selby on 26/09/12

£25.00

+ £6.25 Gift Aid

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Good luck for the run - to all of you!

Donation by Heather Rolfe on 24/09/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Good luck mate, see you in Berlin!

Donation by Nathan Amery on 24/09/12

£15.00

+ £3.75 Gift Aid

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Good luck at the beer festival!

Donation by Karl Olsen on 17/09/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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I've never finished a half-marathon and thought "I could do that again now", so respect for taking on the full 26 miles! Top cause too.

Donation by Paul Trenell on 14/09/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Viel Glück!

Donation by Allan Little on 11/09/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Good luck mate!

Donation by Richard Haw on 10/09/12

£10.00

+ £2.50 Gift Aid

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Best of British mate, have one for me at Oktoberfest!!

Donation by Scott Cain on 10/09/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Best of luck Rich. Hope you've still got the energy to do the beer festival justice after the marathon!

Donation by Ruth & Andy on 10/09/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Best of luck. I will donate another £15 if you run dressed as a tortoise

Donation by Kris Simpson on 05/09/12

£15.00

+ £3.75 Gift Aid

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All I remember about the Childrens' Hospital is they gave me those bloody awful sweets. Great cause though - so all dig deep. Good luck and all that

Donation by Andrew Ward on 01/09/12

£25.00

+ £6.25 Gift Aid

Donation by Joy Thompson on 31/08/12

£20.00

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

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Think you are crazy but wish you lots of luck! Wish I could be there to cheer you all on!

Donation by Emily Saunders on 29/08/12

£26.00

+ £6.50 Gift Aid

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Some offline donations from family plus money raised from fines for missing training sessions (usually to go to the pub!)

Donation by Richard Ward on 28/08/12

£50.00

+ £12.50 Gift Aid

Donation summary

  • * Online donations$447.49
  • Offline donations$0.00
  • Text donations$0.00
  • Total raised$447.49
  • Gift Aid$111.87

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