Update: It's over!  Without doubt the hardest marathon I've ever done.  26 degrees, horrible hills and no crowd support but finished in 4 hours 45 mins - a personal worst by 23 mins! Happy that it was all I could have done on the day (from 18 on it was deadly) but I ran the whole way.  You can see some photos here http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/buy.py?event=Sports/2009/Blackmores Sydney Running Festival&photo=BMCY0424&bib=20005 just about all taken in the last mile hence the smiling!  Fantastic to see the total has gone up even more - thank you so much.  Am now recovering in the Whitsunday Islands and off to NZ in a few days :-) what with that and the money raised for ANT it makes it all worthwhile!  Kath x

Update Sat 19th Sept: Just over 12 hours till we start and just about to eat a ginormous bowl of pasta, don't feel like eating at all but it has to be done!  Serious butterflies in the stomach, just want to get to the start line and start running now this has been the LONGEST day!  Didn't get to sleep till 4.30am last night, hopefully that won't happen tonight as we have to get up at 5am!  Fantastic to see we're over 1500 pounds now - thanks very much everyone! 

 

Update Tues 15th Sept: No getting out of it now, we fly to Sydney tonight.  Thanks to everyone who has been so generous in your support! Please think of us at 10.15pm on Sat night - we'll be on the start line down there where it will be 7.15am Sunday morning.  Whatever happens over the following hours it will I am sure be an amazing experience running over the Harbour Bridge and finishing by the Opera house (the finishing bit especially!)  I feel very lucky to get to do it - thanks for your amazing support again in digging deep and sponsoring me, when it gets tough it will really help. See you all soon, love Kath x

 

Hello,

Thanks for visiting my fundraising page. Yes I am doing another one but this time the start line is a bit further away than Dublin or London!!  I am heading down under to Sydney to run the Marathon on Sunday 20th September. 

I am running for the Anthony Nolan Trust again and this year I will be running in memory of a very special man called Adrian Sudbury who is a true inspiration to me and many others who's lives he touched.

Adrian was a reporter for the Huddersfield Examiner, and when diagnosed with 2 rare forms of Leukaemia, began writing what was to become an award winning blog http://baldyblog.freshblogs.co.uk/ about his experiences - it was read by thousands across the world.  Adrian dedicated the last months of his life to a tireless campaign to raise awareness of the importance of bone marrow, blood and organ donation particularly among young people.  He called it the “Give and Let Live” campaign and his efforts saw him appear many times on national TV and radio and present a petition with over 13,000 signatures to Gordon Brown at Downing Street just weeks before he died - at the age of 27.  As a direct result of his work the Government awarded funds to support a pilot schools programme that will communicate to young people the importance of donating bone marrow, blood and organs.  Adrian's heroic campaign will inevitably lead to more people joining the register and ultimately saving many lives.

I only knew Adrian from hearing him on the radio and reading his blog.  From what I can tell he was a gifted writer who confronted the very worst of circumstances with enormous dignity, a great deal of humanity and a wonderful sense of humour. What he achieved was and still is truly inspirational to me and I wanted to run Sydney in his memory and continue to help support the ANT to help more people take their lives back from Leukaemia.

I know these are tough times for lots of people and also know many of you will have sponsored me before too. Please rest assured that anything you can donate will make a big difference to the Anthony Nolan Trust.  Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Anthony Nolan Trust will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So, if you can, please sponsor me now and many thanks for your support again! 

Kath