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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span>On Sunday 22 April, I will be running the London Marathon in the same year that the Olympics come to town!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Like the 35,000 other runners, we’re trying to make 2012 the biggest charitable success London has ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for coming to my sponsorship page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This is my 4th marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With experience, running for charity is what it's all about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you get up and run a marathon, I promise I will sponsor you, and I promise it will help you get round.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I’m running for The Himalayan Trust, supporting the work of Sir Edmund Hillary, his friends and colleagues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that I am the only person running for them this year and I'm hugely proud to represent them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a real honour and I really want to raise as much money as possible.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">59 years ago, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the summit of Everest – the highest mountain on Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They changed the world and the way we see it. </span>Without the Sherpas, we might still be trying to reach the top.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The Sherpas are a beautiful, unique, and warm community, but they have very little. They live in the high Himalayan mountains, an impenetrable wall between wars and empires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s their knowledge of this great range that has led others to explore and better understand our planet and societies within it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">When Sir Edmund returned to New Zealand, he set up The Himalayan Trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Trust provides Sherpas with basic resources, medicine, and supports projects that develop education. In fact, the Trust has worked so well in the Everest region that George Band - the youngest member of the 1953 team - encouraged the work to spread to other Himalayan regions. He summitted Kangchenjunga in 1955 and today the UK branch are focussing their funds into this valley region. A huge earthquake recently devasated the area and the Trust desperately need more money.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I've been to the Himalayas and they had a huge impact on me. I see them every time I look up at the sky. I imagine them as I run. As the only runner wearing their vest this year, please please sponsor me. I appeal to anyone who ever picked up a National Geographic and dreamt of exploration - HTUK are the good guys and let's help them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">http://www.himalayantrust.co.uk </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Thanks,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Ruth</span></p>
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