We have been trying to get into the London marathon through the ballot for years without success, so in 2019 following another rejection email we decided to book a place at Manchester, it was our goal to complete a marathon by the year 2020. We got our places and started training, and we decided to run for a charity.

The obvious choice for us was CRY, Leigh has a heart condition which his mum and brother also suffer with. They fortunately have had their conditions diagnosed and are manageable. However we have friends who have lost young family members to sudden heart failure and CRY have been there to support them through the difficult time. So we got our CRY running vests on and set up a JustGiving page. The marathon was then postponed due to COVID-19 just a few weeks after we reached the 20-mile training run. So we rested and started training again in 2021. We finally ran our first marathon in October 2021 and we loved it! The donations and support gave us the motivation to keep running and cross the line. Thank you to all of our supports who helped us raise £808.55 for this amazing charity.

Sonia Jamieson