After a challenging couple of years, with large events being cancelled and postponed, we were so excited to finally see the London Marathon going ahead, and on 3rd October 2021, we had 13 people take part in the London Marathon & Virtual London Marathon in support of Caring Matters Now.
Caring Matters Now is allocated a place in the London Marathon every five years, and so we were so excited to have a place in the 2021 race. We opened a ballot for people to enter for that place, those entries were placed into a hat and the winner was chosen at random, and that winner was Matt Friskey. Matt’s daughter Sophie has CMN, and so he was so excited to have the opportunity to help raise awareness and funds for Caring Matters Now. Matt had never ran a marathon before, but he was up for the challenge in order to do what he can to support CMN. On 3rd October, Matt not only completed the Marathon, but has raised an astonishing £6,741.00 for Caring Matters Now.
Along with Matt, Karl Bailey and Jake Northwood also took part in the London Marathon on 23rd October. They had purchased their own places in the race and decided they would use the opportunity try to raise some awareness and funds for CMN. Karl’s daughter Isla also has CMN, and so supporting the charity meant a lot to him. His friend Jake decided to join him in the challenge and together they have raised an amazing £1,261.00.
This year was a special one for the London Marathon, as they introduced the opportunity to take part in the event virtually. This is something that hasn’t been done before, and gave so many more people the chance to take part in the event than ever before. We had an extra 10 participants join in the marathon, where they live. We had people all over the country taking part, from Liverpool to Yorkshire to Gloucester. Those 10 participants were; Rebecca Unsworth, Emma Cottrell, Ian Chance, Andy Sharratt, Nick Lorman-Hall, Josh Smith, Callum White, Katherine Schmidtke, Emily McAllister-Brown and Laura Wilkinson. Each of these participants took part in this race for their own reason, each with their own connection to the charity. Callum White has CMN, some were doing it in support of their family member who has CMN and some had heard of the charity through word of mouth and just wanted to do something to help. We are so grateful for each and every one of them and the efforts they went to to help raise awareness and funds for CMN.
Overall, these 13 participants raised a phenomenal £18,139.00 to help further research, provide support to families, and raise awareness of this rare condition. We are so overwhelmed and amazed by what they have done and we want to say a huge thank you to every one of them.
If you have been inspired by our fantastic fundraiser, and want to help make a difference, click HERE to find out how you could get involved.
