24 April 2007
THREE COMPETITORS COMPLETE THE LONDON MARATHON... NOW ONLY 5 MOUNTAINS AND 5 MARATHONS TO GO!
Three supporters of The Royal Star & Garter Charity recently completed the London Marathon - Adam Thompson, who finished the race in 4 hours 20 minutes, Ben Southall and Owen Thompson Dredge, who both completed the marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes. Adam, Ben and Owen were three of the 36,396 competitors running in the London Marathon last Sunday 22nd April 2007, and had prepared well for the task. Averaging eight miles per day and increasing this up to 20 miles per day, Ben practised on the country roads of Hampshire, Owen followed the route set out by the London Marathon itself on the streets of London and Adam who practised in the garden of England, Kent.
Fitness fanatic and dedicated fundraiser, Ben Southall has teamed together with comrade Owen Thompson Dredge to commence on an astounding venture: the Afritrex project. Afritrex is a privately funded endurance challenge of marathons and mountains, documenting the encounters, obstacles, and achievements of 12 months of hard fundraising and charity work across Africa of which The Royal Star & Garter is one of the benefiting charities. As the Afritrex project will involve similar sporting challenges but in extreme heat and across varied terrain, Ben and Owen have used the London Marathon as a stepping-stone to begin their hard training.
Ben comments, “The temperature was not as warm as we had hoped but it was still hard work and this is just the beginning! We have to be fit for the Comrades Race in Durban, South Africa, in June/July 2008 which involves a full 56 miles uphill in hot weather conditions.”
Patsy Willis, Director of Fundraising and Public Relations for The Royal Star & Garter Homes said, “Congratulations to Adam, Ben and Owen for performing so well. Ben and Owen are doing a fantastic job planning their Afritrex project and we are supporting them in every way we can. They’ve done brilliantly at the London Marathon and we wish them all the very best of luck in their training and planning for Afritrex.”
If you would like to support Adam, Ben and Owen by donating to their chosen Charity, please call 0845 370 7500 to donate, donate online at www.starandgarter.org or send donations to the London Marathon Appeal, The Royal Star & Garter Homes, Richmond Hill, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey TW10 6RR. Thank you.
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About the Royal Star & Garter Homes - Founded in 1916.
The Royal Star & Garter Charity has been caring for disabled ex-Service personnel since 1916. The Charity offers the best in nursing and therapeutic care for anyone is physically disabled or incapacitated and has served in Her Majesty’s Forces. There are also a wide variety of leisure activities available for our residents to enjoy, both internally and at outside venues. The Royal Star & Garter Charity is embarking on an ambitious and wide reaching project to build new homes, in the South West London area and elsewhere, to provide specialist care for elderly disabled ex-Service people in the best modern surroundings and will include a specialist dementia wing. The first of these will open in Solihull in the summer of 2008.
FURTHER INFO: Rebecca Spencer, Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator, The Royal Star & Garter Homes.
TEL: 020 8439 8118 or EMAIL: rebecca.spencer@starandgarter.org