Update Septemebr 28th 2010

Dear all

Berlin Marathon completed in 4:32:47 on Sunday. 

Apparently I came 21669th, and for runner no 27590, that was fast enough, considering that I'd stumbled over a dutch bloke at 20k and limped for the next 10k and that the weather was more like Manchester than Berlin, I'm quite happy with it. 

However, I've still got one more to do (London 2011) where I want to beat my time.... here's hoping.

Thanks to all those who sponsored me (and didn't moan when I could do London 2010), and for those who did moan - I've done one now.....

Thanks

Mark 

 

Dear all

Update 24th April (T-1)

All is not well.  It seems that I've managed to strain my medial ligament (or some silliness) last Tuesday after the shortest run (less than 3 miles) that I've done this year.  So last night, I put my withdrawl notice in at the excel centre.....and bought a robocop knee brace to aid healing. And then went and got plastered.

So, since I've been sponsored, I have booked 2 marathons in for this year - the Chester Marathon which is the end of May and the Berlin Marathon which is the end of September.  So you lucky people will get 2 marathons for the price of one.  You can tell I shop at Tesco!

Mark

 

Dear all

I swore blind after doing The London Marathon in 2003 for British Wheelchair Sports that I'd never do it again..... It took me 3 days before I could walk down stairs (a week before I could do it without looking like a crab)....all that despite 4 months training!

However, beering with friends has undone me yet again, between Glyn Hibbert tapping me up again and Graham telling me that I was a fatty that needed to do another one before I got too old.....

So I'm running for the British Weightlifting Association for the Disabled..... I asked Glyn, who is a friend as well as the Chairman of the British Weighlifting Association for the Disabled, to write a few words to explain what the money is for, so that you'll donate generously.  They're below. 

Please donate generously, as it is a worthwhile cause, and if I go to the Wheelpower Annual Awards dinner as I usually do, I don't want to be sitting in the corner with no mates.....and more importantly, its always a humbling experience that people who's lives are forever changed by accident get involved in something new, and achieve truly remarkable results.

 

Thanks

Mark

 

      BRITISH WEIGHTLIFTING ASSOCIATION for the DISABLED

3^rd April 2010

The London 2012 Olympic Stadium is nearing completion and work is well underway on the other venues.  Now that we have reached this milestone we must set our sites on the 2012 Paralympic Games here in and the most important task of finding and coaching our finest ever team to represent us at the 2012 Games.

Based at the world famous Stoke Mandeville the British Weightlifting Association for the Disabled is responsible for finding athletes to compete in the Powerlifting section of the games.  We train the athletes and for strength building their performance to Paralympic level allowing them to compete with the finest disabled athletes in the world.

The difference with our athletes is that the majority of them arrive at our doors through accidents in their normal day to day lives, one moment they are living in our world and the next they are confined to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives.

From 19th to 23rd April 2010 we will invite 150 new wheelchair users to join us at Stoke Mandeville and recommend that they try one of the 10 different sports that we provide with the hope that they will find an opportunity to move from their hospital environment into the world of sport.

These athletes will be selected from the 10 Spinal Units based around the and and for some of them this will be the start of a sporting career that we hope will take them to the 2012 Paralympic Games here in .

Whilst we have the expertise to train and advice these wheelchair athletes what we don’t have is MONEY.

We receive no finance from the government to assist with our work and have to rely on donations from the public.

All of the funds received will go towards building a team for 2012 that we can be proud of and when watching the games we will know that we all played a part in their success.

In anticipation of your generosity please make a donation to Mark, he's defintely not built for this (well he certainly wasn't when he started training at the turn of the year).

On behalf of our athletes I thank you for your assistance and look forward to seeing you at one of our competitions in the future and if you require any further information please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Glyn Hibbert

Chairman