Darius and his team are currently training hard in preparation for running the Bournemouth full and half marathons in this year’s Bournemouth Marathon Festival.
The team: (Photo: L-R Top row: Sarah Parish, Sabrina Gurling, Catherine Payne, Dawn Fisk, Rachel Dennys L-R Bottom row: James Murray, Nick Duguid, Darius Khwaja, Joe Brown) Debbie Tully (pictured below) and Laura Duguid.
The Bournemouth Marathon Festival 2016 – ‘running as it should be’ – is a “series of fun and challenging mass-participation running races, all inspired by the stunning coastal arena of Bournemouth and Poole”, taking place over the 1st/2nd October.
Running on the 2nd October, this team of eight have chosen to support The Murray Parish Trust #2MillionSteps appeal which aims to raise £2million to provide a dedicated children’s emergency and trauma department at Southampton University Hospital. This specialised paediatric facility will serve nine counties across the South of England.
Please support Darius, Sabrina, Catherine, Debbie, Dawn, Rachel, Nick, Joe and Laura by visiting their MyDonate fundraising event page HERE.
Some more about the team..
Darius, a running addict since 2013, is doing the Full Marathon for this great cause. He ran his first full marathon in Bournemouth last year and prior to that ran six half-marathons including Gosport, Reading, Basingstoke and Fleet.
Rachel says,“This will be my second and probably last Full Marathon. I did the Brighton marathon in 2012 and I’m hoping to improve my time of 4hrs 31mins. I have done a number of half marathons including Brighton, Basingstoke and Reading”
Dawn will be running the Full Marathon. “Having turned 50 this year I decided I needed a huge challenge to prove to myself that I am not old at all(!) so I agreed to run my first ever Marathon – and probably last… I run for fun with a friend and our two dogs, cross country, just to keep fit. I mostly run 10k’s, sometimes organised 10 miles, and in the past have completed around 8 Half Marathons over the years. Those are the furthest I have ever run so I am incredibly nervous about this event. I don’t plan to run within any particular time, just to get round without ending up on a saline drip in the St John’s Ambulance or in lots of pain. The Murray Parish Trust is an excellent cause and will definitely inspire and encourage me to keep going on the day.”
Catherine (58) “This will be my 8th Half Marathon since I started running 3 years ago. My fastest time is 1hr 59 mins. I was so pleased to have broken the 2 hour barrier and hope to do so again at Bournemouth in October. As the mother of 4 children I am thrilled to be running and raising money for the wonderful Murray Parish Trust- what a very worthwhile cause.”
Sabrina told us, “My first half marathon was Basingstoke in October 2014 (never again, far too hilly!), and I’ve run Reading Half as well in January 2015, but desperate to get under 2hrs which I have told myself will mean I’ll never have to run another one – hopefully achievable at Bournemouth as its mostly flat. I have also done Great South Run (10 miles) – happier doing 10k’s really but anything for a good cause!”
We wish them the best of luck for their marathon and fundraising goals.
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