In just over 2 and a half weeks (!) on Sunday April 8th I will be running (hobbling/shuffling/crawling) the Paris Marathon, and I've decided to try to raise some money for new equipment for the amazing City of Canterbury Rhythmic Gymnastics Club.

Ok, so I get that this might not be the most exciting cause compared to many out there, but for the incredibly talented and committed gymnasts here in Canterbury it is hugely important.

Many of the gymnasts compete at national level and their strength and dedication is truly inspirational, The coaches are amazing and work tirelessly to give them the very best opportunities to develop their sport. Everyone involved gives up so much of their time, and seeing as I've been giving up lots of my time to running around the glorious backdrop of our fair city and coast this year I thought I'd try to turn that effort into something more tangible than just a shiny medal and some dodgy blisters!

The club has a very real and pretty urgent problem. The mats that they train and compete on 7 days a week are, well, knackered. They're over 20 years old and falling apart. It is close to becoming a health and safety problem and without new ones the girls simply won't be able to train. And where will our next British Open champions come from then?

Normally with fundraising we can only hope to make a small, but important, drop in the ocean. I wanted to try to raise some money for the club as we could really push them over the line.

Anyway, thanks so much for reading and I - and they - would be really so grateful if you could even spare a couple of quid. Pretty please?!

Thanks so very much,

Caroline xx