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Hi there, Thanks very much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. I am running both the Virgin London Marathon and the Paris Marathon in April to raise as much money as possible for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. I have never run a full marathon before but I have (stupidly) decided to run 2 marathons in 2 weekends for charity. I had originally only planned to do one of the two as its very hard to get in to each, but I somehow I got the opportunity to enter both and so I thought it was meant to be!! The Paris Marathon is on the 15th April and the London Marathon on the 22nd April. I see this as my hardest sporting challenge to date and I have been advised by friends who have done marathons before that doing 2 in consecutive weekends is "mad" and "stupid" but I am extremely determined to compete in both and raise as much money as possible for my chosen charity! I am so pleased and grateful to be able to compete in these 2 huge events, especially the London Marathon as I have applied for the past 2 years and I have been rejected on both occasions. To give you a brief background on the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. Ron Pickering was an ex-athletics coach who had a fund set up in his memory to raise money for young aspiring athletes.  <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Every penny I manage to raise will go to these talented young athletes aged 15 to 23 while they are in education. The grants are intended to help them with training & equipment expenses, thereby encouraging them to stay in the sport and realise their potential.  I believe the charity is a very worthy cause, especially due to being such a sporty person myself and therefore understanding how important sport can be to young people’s lives both through career opportunities and through the development of general life skills. Finally, as we are in our very own Olympic year I believe there is no better time to raise awareness and therefore money for the Ron Pickering Fund as the publicity of athletics will be the largest it has ever been this year. Thanks for taking the time to look at my page and I will be most grateful and very thankful for any donations. Please please give generously. Thanks :) Alex Smith   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.

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