The British Swiss Marathon Challenge….

A little indulgence if I may. This Sunday I shall be running the Royal Parks half marathon in London. In three weeks’ time I shall be running another half marathon in Lausanne. Hence the British Swiss marathon challenge, one half of which will be run in the UK and the other half in Switzerland.

Why I am I doing this? Well clearly I would like to raise some money for a few charities that are dear to my heart and this is an excellent opportunity to do so.

Half of any money raised will be donated to Operation Smile, which exists to provide life changing facial surgery. My daughter was lucky enough to benefit from our NHS when she underwent her own jaw surgery earlier this year but children in other countries are not so fortunate and a remarkable transformation can take place for as little as £150.

The other half will go to two locally based charities. I have had a connection to  Shooting Star Chase  for many years and am pleased once again to have the opportunity to support the work that they do with children with life limiting conditions. Equally White Lodge is a long established charity that provides a range of creative activities for disabled people of all ages and their families and carers that I have previously supported through the amateur dramatics group I am involved in.

However I guess I am also doing it because I can. I may not be in the first flush of youth but I am reasonably fit and a half marathon is still within the boundaries of what might (laughingly) be called a “fun run”. OK I have had to work hard and train in order to be in the right condition to complete both half marathons, and it has not all been plain sailing, but once I decided that this was something I wanted to do, I have remained focussed on crossing both of the finishing lines, hopefully in a reasonable time.

I think that rising to challenges is at the heart of what we all do as members of Enterprise Britain. Whether personal or business it is the determination to overcome all obstacles in the pursuit of an achievable goal that is the key factor in how successful you are.

It is obviously in this sporting “annus mirabilis” that both cities have strong Olympic links, London having held an extremely successful event in the summer, as well as being the only city to host three Olympic Games, while Lausanne is home to the International Olympic Committee.

I know everybody is now inundated with requests for sponsorship, but as we all know in life, if you don’t ask you don’t get. If anything that I have written above strikes a chord, or you are feeling particularly generous, then please feel free to go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/britishswissmarathonchallenge where you can quickly and easily sponsor me. All amounts greatly appreciated.

Thank you for listening. Normal service will be resumed next week….