As many of you know, I am running the New York Marathon on November 1st. This will no doubt be a long and painful experience for me, and it may indeed take me days or even weeks to finish it.  Knowing that I have raised massive sums from my generous friends in order to help at risk youth in the UK will no doubt spur me along and keep me from stopping off at some of my favorite Manhattan haunts mid-marathon.

I am raising money for Fairbridge, a UK charity that is part of the Prince's Trust.

Fairbridge works with young people aged 15 - 25 in 15 of the most disadvantaged areas in the UK, offering marginalised young people a unique combination of personal support and challenging activities, through which they can develop the confidence and skills they need to reconnect with mainstream society.  Every year Fairbridge supports over 3,700 young people who are outside education, training and employment, or at risk of dropping out; these are often the young people who other organisations have found it difficult to engage, those that all too often, society has written-off and forgotten about.

Fairbridge is headed by my good friend Andrew Purvis, who is running the marathon with me.