UPDATE :: 21st November 2006

All done. Four races in one calendar month, and if I am honest, I am still recovering! The Dublin Marathon was amazing, and I can speak for both myself and my brother Mark.

A cool overcast day set the perfect scene for our first attempt at running 26.2 miles. I started off at my usual pace, and ignored the advice of 'go out slow, and finish strong'. I was flying by mile 6, and was well ahead of my pace of 8 minute miles. I finish the first half in 1h 40m, a whole 5mins ahead of schedule. Everything was going great until 19.5miles, when someone plugged my plug from the wall socket. I had 'hit-the-wall', what all the energy I had in my body in the beginning was gone, empty. Those last 6.5 miles was not pretty and forced my time outside of 'gold target' of 3h 30m, however I still managed to complete in 3h 43m 10s, which I am very happy with. The support from the people of Dublin was fantastic, people lined the streets of the entire route and cheered us as we ran!

Thanks again to you all for your kind sponsorship, thoughts and well wishes during what has been the most physically challenging thing I have ever done... it just mean I will have to better it next year!!!

Here are our official marathon times:

Runner	Time	Position
Nicholson, Matthew	03:43:09	1736 of 12,000
Nicholson, Mark	05:10:57	6386

UPDATE :: 24th October 2006

Three down, and only the big one to go!  Mark & I ran the Great South Run in Portsmouth on Sunday 22nd October.  The GSR is a 10mile circuit around the South Sea area into Portsmouth and back.

It was a fantastic day, however the weather was horrible... torrential rain with 30mph winds!!

We ran with a friend of ours, Emma Weekes, who was also running for charity.  I will get some pics online soon...

Here are our times:

Runner	Time	Position
Nicholson, Matthew	01:10:08	480 of 18,000
Nicholson, Mark	01:43:53	8336
Weekes, Emma	01:46:46	8916

UPDATE :: 9th October 2006

Two down, and two to go!  Training for Dublin is going (sort of) according to plan.  Both Mark & I have covered the distance we wanted to at this stage, and are now looking forward to getting the GSR completed before moving onto the Dublin run.

Yesterday (Sunday, 8th October) I completed the Nike 10k in Hyde Park, London.

Runner	Time	Position
Nicholson, Matthew	42:21	785th of 21973

UPDATE :: 2nd October 2006

Well, we all managed to make it around the Great North Run. The GNR is a half marathon course, point-to-point (13.1miles or 21km)

If you would like to sponsor us, please do so, and remember that both Mark and I are taking part in additional runs in October.

I am running in the Nike 10k on 8th Oct; and both Mark and I are running in the Great South Run (22/10) and the Dublin Marathon (30/10).

Here are the results from the GNR '06:

Runner	Time	Position
Nicholson, Matthew	01:33:53	1037
Foster, David	01:58:09	9308
Nicholson, Jon	02:15:29	19666
Nicholson, Sam	02:15:31	19690
Williamson, Andrew	02:15:37	19748
Nicholson, Mark	02:23:18	23869
Nicholson, David	03:11:03	34843
Nicholson, Ruth	03:11:03	34844
Nicholson, Paul	03:11:03	34845

THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR FUNDRAISING PAGE

YES, WE DECIDED TO DO IT AGAIN...!!!

This time I have roped in all of the Nicholson siblings!  Yep, all 7 of us are taking part!!

We are heading up to Newcastle for our 13.1 mile trek, and taking part in the Great North Run 2006.

The Great North Run is the largest half marathon in the world with over entrants in excess of 50,000.

Once again I would like to thank everyone that sponsored Mark, Paul and Myself for the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon.

Thanks for visiting, Matt Nicholson

MEET THE TEAM

Here is a brief biography on each of us...

Sam NICHOLSON (37)
Sam is the architect in the family, and is recently home from backpacking around Australia for six months.

Davy NICHOLSON (36)
Davy is a natural athlete, partaking in sports during every seaon of the year!  If he's not dressed in his whites playing cricket in the summer, then he's getting muddy in the winter playing rugby... but does he have the staying power to go the long haul of 13.1 miles?

Mark NICHOLSON (32)
Mark is a director of Greenway Ireland Recycling in Mountnorris, and is a qualified PGA Golf Professional.
Mark will also be running in the Great South Run in Portsmouth and the Dublin Marathon on 30 October.
(Silverstone Half Marathon time: 2h 30m 13s)

Jon NICHOLSON (29)
Jon is another director of Greenway Ireland Recycling in Mountnorris, and would like to be a PGA gold pro, just he ain't there just yet!

Paul NICHOLSON (27)
Another elder brother, however lives in London like me.  Paul works for Nomura Asset Management in St. Pauls.
(Silverstone Half Marathon time: 1h 56m 16s)

Matthew NICHOLSON (25)
Thats me! I work for HSBC bank in London, working with IT, and have been for almost four years now. I graduated from Abertay University in Dundee and attended the Royal School Armagh playing for the 1st XV for three years.
I am also taking part in the Nike 10k, Great South Run and Dublin Marathon... all in October (89k in one month, ouch!)
(Silverstone Half Marathon time: 1h 49m 09s)
(Southend Half Marathon time: 2h 10m 29s) *it was 31 degrees

Ruth NICHOLSON (21)
Ruth is currently studying at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, and even at 21, she is the baby of the family.

WHY C-R-Y?

When it came time to choose a charity to fundraise for, we wanted to pick one that had a personal meaning to us; therefore we decided to dedicate this fundraising to John McCALL.

We got to know John very well through the Royal School Armagh's rugby community and his family circle.

John was an amazingly talented young man, whose life was cut short at 18 by a heart condition. John was gifted in many areas; most significantly with his artistic flair and raw skill on the rugby field.  Even for a man of 18, he had achieved so much in the sport; Captaining his Royal School 1st XV side to Ulster Schools Cup victory and going on to represent Ireland in the U19 Rugby World Cup in South Africa.

MORE INFO ON C-R-Y

Every week 8 'apparently' fit and healthy young people die in the UK from undiagnosed heart conditions. 

Hundreds of young people die unexpectedly of heart defects every year. C-R-Y works to raise awareness of Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) and campaigns for proactive screening of young people. It offers help and support to those who have suffered a loss, provides medical information, carries out Mobile Cardiac Screening and ECG Testing Programmes within local communities and contributes to medical research.

For further info on C-R-Y, visit http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

SPONSORSHIP

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Cardiac Risk in the Young 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 please sponsor us now!

Regards

Matthew NICHOLSON