Thanks for donating to my JustGiving page.

As some of you may know, I am running my first ever ultra marathon on the 15th July. I have chosen to participate in the Race to the stones in aid of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), an independent charity that places skilled volunteers on long term placements, fighting poverty in developing countries. I learnt about the charity following my dad's decision to head out to Sierra Leone in 2018 to volunteer with the charity for 6-9 months as a doctor. VSO's scope goes beyond improving healthcare, with projects in Education, Participation & Governance and Secure Livelihoods.

In countries such as Sierra Leone, not only are hospital facilities extremely basic, years of civil war and the 2014 Ebola outbreak have ravaged the health service meaning staff are short in number and heavily undertrained. As a result of fundraising, VSO volunteers have been able to teach classes of up to 70 health workers a day, giving each student new, sustainable life-saving skills that they can then teach to others.

Race to the stones is 100km (62 miles) non-stop trail run through the Chilterns and North Wessex Downs, finishing at the 5,000 year old stone circle at Avebury. Although I run fairly regularly, I have never attempted anything near this distance and am currently undergoing a rather gruelling training programme in preparation.

Please take a moment to make a donation to support all of VSO's projects in 24 countries via this JustGiving page. Any donation of any size will be greatly appreciated.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.