Update - I completed the run in 2 hours 16 mins which I'm pleased with as I've not done any training to speak of for 5 weeks due to chest infections and Swine Flu!  ...Thanks for all of your kind donations and helping reach my £500 target for the RNLI in memory of Simon. 

If anyone would still like to sponsor me via this website you can do up until the start of November 09 and it will still reach the RNLI. 

Hi and thank you for visiting my Great North Run fundraising page.  Most of you will know by now why I've taken part for the last 3 years and I appreciate that money is tight these days but please can you spare a few pounds to sponsor me online for such a worthy cause.  It's really easy to do and I would very happy if you could help me reach my target of £500 (if I don't reach £500 I have to make up the difference myself!), this will spur me on to get around the 13.1 mile course on the 20th September 2009, I hope!! 

Thanks to all the people who sponsored me last year in raising £803, I hope you are still as generous this time around!   Adding that to the 1st year's brilliant amount of £1297 we have raised £2100 for the RNLI in just 2 years.   

I am taking part in the 2009 Great North Run (my 3rd!) in memory or Simon Foddering who was a pilot I knew who was tragically killed in the Morecambe Bay Helicopter Tragedy on the 27th December 2006 at the age of just 33, (leaving 2 children - Chloe and Kieran) along with his co-pilot Stephen Potton and five gas rig workers.  

If it were not for the dedication of the Fleetwood, Barrow and Lytham lifeboat teams, six of the seven families would not have had the chance to say farewell to their lost loved ones.  The men and women of the RNLI worked for over 24 hours and battled through a series of elements to bring those souls back to shore.  

Simon achieved many things in his short life, namely serving his country in the Prince of Wales Regiment before completing his training and becoming one of the youngest pilots in the army air fleet serving in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Germany and Belize, before leaving in 2003 to join the North Wales Air Ambulance and later in the North West Air Ambulance based in Blackpool.  

Sian Lloyd of North Wales Air Ambulance said: "Simon was a fun, outgoing type of chap with a really excellent sense of humour, always ready to have a laugh and a joke." He was very popular and well respected and he will be sorely missed."

So why raise money for the Lifeboats?

I was compelled to do something in Simon's honour and raise money for the RNLI, as they were the ones trying to save his life on that fateful evening.  Simon was a keen fundraiser himself, running in the London Marathon himself and on one occasion he appeared on TV with ITV's Paul Crone raising money for their NW Air Ambulance appeal.

Simon has saved so many lifes, so I feel the RNLI would be a welcome choice for Simon.

So please, please, please sponsor me and help those who risk their own lives to save others.  

Please note that the RNLI do not get any government funding and rely soley on donations.       

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

Please note - I am funding my own travel, accommodation, equipment etc, so all donations will go straight to the RNLI only. 

Many thanks for your support

Karl Webber

Update - 27/07/09 - Completed the Manchester 10K in May and have continued to train over the last couple of months.  Hopefully I can step up the training to beat my previous time of 1 hour 57mins. 

Update - 01/09/09 - After a bout of swine flu and a current persistant chest infection it's left me with, the doctor has advised me not to take part in the run - but I'm determined to complete it even if I have to walk!