Twenty-six members of Shropshire Shufflers were among 40,000 runners who took part in the London Marathon on Sunday.
Some of the club’s contingent were making their marathon debuts, while many were raising money for charity.
This year the amount raised by London Marathon participants has topped £1 billion for the first time. Total sponsorship received by Shufflers was in excess of £25,000. Beneficiaries of this funding will include national causes such as Barnardo’s, Save the Children and Macmillan Cancer Support, and local charities like the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund and the Severn Hospice.
For Sam Ostermeyer, it was the culmination of a year’s fundraising in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), after his father was diagnosed with the disease in December 2017. Challenges Sam has undertaken include the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the National Three Peaks and the Cotswold 24 Hour Race, while he has achieved numerous PBs along the way. Sam achieved his goal of finishing the marathon in under three and a half hours. However, his most impressive achievement has been to raise over £14,000 for MNDA during the past 12 months.
Chris Whiteley was running his first ever marathon in support of Kidney Research UK. Father-of-one Chris lives with kidney disease, and his diagnosis was one of the main reasons why he started running in 2017. Chris says that joining the Shufflers “provided great motivation and the chance to meet lots of new people”. Not only did Chris smash his fundraising target of £2,000, but he also completed the course in a creditable 4 hours 54 minutes.
Libby Collinson ran an outstanding race to finish third in the 60-64 age group, and incredibly Phil Jones improved his own 40-44 club record by more than ten minutes. Richard Price also ran a new club record in the 35-39 age group. The oldest Shuffler competing in London was Iain Day (28th in 70-74 age category), while the youngest was teenager Harry Hammonds.
Shropshire Shufflers’ roll of honour for the 2019 London Marathon is as follows:
Euan Balmer – Joel Bishton – Nicola Bishton – Libby Collinson – Rob Corcoran – Iain Day – Harry Hammonds – Kim Harris – Rachel Harvey – Charlie Holland – Marilyn Hunt – Richard Hunter – Anna Iley – Philip Jones – Emma Kay – Pam O’Carroll – Steve Oliver – Sam Ostermeyer – Richard Pepper – Mark Perez – Nicholas Pollock – Richard Price – Ian Robinson – Stuart Smith – Chris Whiteley – Sharon Williams
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