Dear friends

I ran the halfmarathon in 2:02:04, so a bit slower than hoped. Please consider giving £5 or £10 to the Gaza Scholarship Fund at Oxford Brookes University.

Regards

Andrew

 

THE PRE-RACE 'BIG SELL' ...

Assuming you didn't immediately delete the email I sent you, thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. You may not have seen this lot before, but rest assured: it is not ACTUALLY a scam - although you will be enjoined to part with some of your hard-earned cash before long.

Most recently, I have been undertaking, among several other important projects, expert armchair commentary on the world athletic championships, why Kenyans in particular perform so exceptionally at middle and long distance, etc, etc.), i.e. I have been moved to give serious thought to vigorous physical exercise. I can now confirm that a strange affliction has befallen me, so much so that I have been lured out of my comfortable (and I like to think, well-earned) retirement from cardio-vascular stress to run the INAUGURAL Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday 25 September.

To celebrate this splendid occasion, I have carefully selected - from my 3,000 or so closest friends, to badger YOU to contribute some funds (£5 or £10 would be fine) towards a specific, useful cause that spreads a small measure of good cheer in these trying times.

To wit: I recently came across Oxford Brookes University's 'Gaza Scholarship Fund', initiated in 2009 by two generous and upstanding fellows. The Gaza Scholarship pays for one Palestinian graduate student from Gaza to study at Brookes each year. The second student has just arrived at Brookes to enrol on the highly rated CENDEP (Centre for Development and Emergency Practice) Master's programme for 2011/12.

My humble opinion is that it all checks out. And I think it would be a fine thing if this modest little run through the streets of Oxford could cause a few of us to dig a handful of coppers out of our respective pockets. This would assist the fine people of Gaza, who've had a bit of a time of it over the past several decades.

If you've read this far, let me say how much I really appreciate it.

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