27 years ago, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in April, I departed London a broken man, shattered by an incident that took place during the London Marathon. My run on the day went as well as expected however what shook me to the core was being passed at the 21mile mark by a rugby pal (Tim Richardson) who had undertaken no training whatsoever and simply decided to cut down from 40 to 20 B&H a day in the weeks prior.

Its taken nearly 3 decades to face my demons but this year I am back for another crack at the greatest ‘Park Run’ of them all. However what really delights me is that my return is courtesy of the ‘Hope for Children’ charity founded by an amazing man called Bob  Parsons, who sadly passed a couple of years ago. Bob gave me my first ever LM spot back in 1992 when I ran for his fledgling charity, I was one of 2 who were running for them that day. This year 'Hope' have 17 runners of which I’m proud to be one. ‘Hope for Children’ continues to flourish and provides support for children around the world and can do so even more if you just make a donation of any size to this remarkable charity started by a remarkable man.

Hope for Children is a small international charity based in the UK that passionately believes every child has the right to a happy and healthy childhood that prepares them for a positive future. Almost half of the world's children are living in poverty. We are changing this by making a safe and fulfilling childhood a reality for more of the world's children. We work in three main areas; education, health and well-being, and empowering families to create sustainable livelihoods. Our vision is a world where every child has a happy childhood that sets them up for a positive future. We currently work in the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, and Uganda.