The London Marathon is the third-largest annual road race in the UK, and many of our supporters rose to the challenge to raise money for people affected by meningitis.
One of those supporters was Paul who was running in memory of his stepdaughter, Rhiannon. This was Paul’s seventh and final marathon, and the race took place on his 60th birthday. Paul shared a little about his marathon and fundraising journey.
“I ran my first marathon just before my 50th birthday and got a bit of a bug for it. I thought I’d do one marathon every year and this was my last. I promised everybody this was my last and I turned 60 on the day of the race.
“Over the years I’ve ran the London Marathon for a number of different charities and started running for Meningitis Now in 2021. Over the last ten years, I’ve raised over £40,000 in total.
“For this marathon I’ve raised almost £5,000 so far for Meningitis Now.
“What started us on the fundraising journey was the support we had from Meningitis Now from day one after Rhiannon passed, and we continue to get. My wife still gets a phone call from a Community Support Officer at least every couple of months to check in.
“We’ve been on Forever Weekends and we just felt that we wanted to raise awareness of meningitis so people know what the symptoms are and can take action quickly.
“We also wanted to give something back to the charity so they can support other people going forward, other families like us.
“The London Marathon is such an amazing course with great landmarks to see and fantastic support from the crowds. My race went really well and I was buzzing and proud of my achievement.
"Rhiannon's memory is my true inspiration together with the awesome support we have had from people during my fundraising efforts.”
A massive thank you again to all those who took part in the London Marathon this year. If you’d like to learn more about raising money for Meningitis Now in next years London Marathon check out our website.
To find out more about fundraising for Meningitis Now, check out our events, opportunities and other ways you can get involved on our website. or get in touch with our Fundraising team on fundraising@meningitisnow.org.
