Huntingdonshire runners raise thousands for charity at London Marathon

Richard Bream who raised more than ?2,000 for fight for sight (Image: Archant)

CHARLIE Woodward successfully reached the halfway point of her effort to run four marathons in eight weeks when she finished her second in four hours and 35 seconds.

Paul Webster who raised ?590 for Huntingdon Gymnastics Club (Image: Archant)

Mrs Woodward, 38, who came agonisingly close to her target time of four hours, has raised £1,120 for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability, in Putney, and is well on her way to her £2,000 target.

BRJ Run and Tri at the Virgin London Marathon (from left: Paula Elliot, Andy Barber, Yvonne Homewood, Sue Yendley, Anita Girvan, Roger Holliday, Sarah Hall, Lucy Moore (Image: Archant)

With the Paris and London races under her belt, she moves on to the Milton Keynes marathon on May 6 and finishes with another 26 miles in Edinburgh on May 26.

Tara Dundon who has raised ?994 for Wood Green (Image: Archant)

Mrs Woodward, above, of Whitney Close, Hartford, said: “It’s a massive challenge but I’m taking every race and every mile as it comes.

“The support was absolutely awesome – by far the best-supported marathon I have ever run.”

Richard Bream was running in honor of his two year old nephew Aaron who suffers from Glaucoma and has raised £2,100 so far for charity Fight for Sight. Mr Bream, 32, struggled through a niggling injury to complete the course in a time of just five hours and nine minutes.

Mr Bream, of Sandfields Road, St Neots, said: “My old injury that I suffered with in training flared up but I battled through it because the crowd got me going and were shouting my name.”

SUPER slimmer Natalie Beecher has more than doubled her fundraising target – collecting £1,143 for Cancer Research.

Mrs Beecher, 34, has shed nine stone since 2011, dropping from a dress size 24 to a size 12.

The Huntingdon mother of four recorded five hours alongside other members of the Slimming World team.

She said: “I’d always watch the marathon on TV and think I’d do it too ‘one day’.

“But that seemed like such a ridiculous ambition before joining Slimming World.”

LEONARD Kirkby was running his 19th London Marathon and despite struggling with the heat, finished in just over five hours.

Mr Kirkby, 60, has so far raised £600 for Pancreatic Cancer Research.

Mr Kirkby, of Sapley Road, Hartford, said: “I didn’t enjoy it very much because of the heat but the support was brilliant. I’ve got one more to go to make 20 so, hopefully, I will get to do it again.”

DANNY Myers has raised £3,000 for the British Lung Foundation in memory of his father Ivatt, who died aged 73 last year.

Mr Myers, 26 and originally from Somersham, began training for the marathon immediately after his father’s death in April and despite a muscle strain crossed the line in four hours and 45 minutes.

PAUL Webster, 41, broke the four-hour mark by five seconds on his way to raising £590 for Huntingdon Gymnastics Club.

Mr Webster, above, of Longsands Road, St Neots, raised the money as part of the £100,000 the club needs to build a new gym.

The club is used by Mr Webster’s 10-year-old twins, Caitlin and Aaron.

FOOTBALLERS Jamie Alsop and Craig Green have raised a combined total of £2,500 for their chosen charities.

Mr Alsop, 28, who plays for St Ives Town, finished in just over four hours and has raised £1,000 for Sports Connections Foundation.

Mr Green, 31, who plays for Huntingdon Town, finished in four hours and 35 minutes – after numerous toilet breaks – and raised £1,600 for YMCA Cambs and Peterborough.

ANDY Davies and his brother Nick Cullimore-Davies have raised £4,200 for homeless charity Shelter.

Andy, 29, of Buttsgrove Way, Huntingdon, finished in three hours and 59 minutes beating his older brother’s four hours and 20 minutes.

SARAH Hall, 32, from Huntingdon, and her two friends Anita Girbin, from Alconbury, and Sue Yendley, from Brampton, finished in four hours and 15 minutes.

They were dressed as Wonder Woman, Bat Woman and Super Woman. Mrs Hall, who runs with the BRJ running club, managed to raise £500 for Huntingdonshire charity Natural High.

TARA Dundon, right, shaved 45 minutes off the time she achieved in the Paris Marathon two years ago and has raised £994 for Wood Green Animal Charity. Mrs Dundon, 28, finished in four hours and 16 minutes.