Good luck to all our London Marathon runners

Buy photos » Alex Lane with his Primrose Hospice T-shirt. s

RUNNERS from Bromsgrove and Rubery will be among the thousands pounding the streets of the capital on Sunday (April 22) in this year’s London Marathon.

Participants have been training hard for months ahead of the 26.2-mile event and, hopefully, on Sunday, all of their preparation will pay off.

Sharron Kibble and Chris Barnett will be running in aid of the Stroke Association.

Sharron said: “Last year one of their friends suffered a stroke and, thankfully, recovered.”

Chris added: “His amazing story had a happy ending because someone acted quickly to help him and he received the very latest medical treatment.”

So, they said, they wanted to help the charity which helped him with his recovery and rehabilitation.

Anyone wanting to support Sharron and Chris can visit: www.justgiving.com/circuit-training-bromsgrove

Bromsgrove mum Fiona Harasyn will line up to raise funds for Bliss, a charity which helps sick and premature babies.

Fiona chose that charity after the organisation helped her son Finn who was born two months early.

She said: “Finn was born very prematurely last year and only survived because of the amazing treatment and care he received.”

She added she was hoping to raise £2,500 for the cause.

“I’ve so far raised over £2,300 which is just incredible,” she said.

To sponsor Fiona, visit www.justgiving.com/FiHarasyn

Alex Lane will be one of five runners for the Primrose Hospice, along with Jamie Long, Nik Thompson, Karen Dalton and James Dallow.

Alex, who has already raised more than £1,350 for the hospice, said: “I must say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped and supported me over the last few months.

“I hope you will all be glued to the TV screen on Sunday, looking for the slightly slimmer Alex Lane running proudly in his Primrose Hospice shirt.

“Thank you to Primrose Hospice for giving me the opportunity to run for such a worthly course,” he added.

Anyone wanting to support the Primrose’s runners can search for them by name at www.justgiving.com or call the hospice on 01527 879796.

Thirty-nine-year-old Cathryn Hoskin, from Rednal, will be running in aid of Children with Cancer UK.

She said running the London Marathon had always been one of her dreams.

“I will be able to cross it off my list of ‘Things to do before I’m 40’.

“My nerves are somewhere in the sky at the moment, but I can’t wait to be part of such a famous day,” she added.

Cathryn, who is hoping to raise £1,000 for the cause, has already collected more than £650.

Anyone wanting to sponsor her can do so at www.virginmoneygiving.com/CathrynHoskin

David Fisher, from Bromsgrove, will be running on Sunday with his brother Paul and his friends from the army - Carl Empsall, Paul Ramsey, Tony Goldin, Owen Larsen and Peter Camilleri - to raise funds for the Royal British Legion (RBL).

They are hoping to raise as much money as possible and the group has, so far, been pledged almost £4,000.

For more on their fund-raising efforts, visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/SEME

We at The Standard would like to wish the best of luck to all of the runners from our areas.

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