A huge thank you to Neil Burgess for running the Brighton Marathon to raise funds for LIFEbeat! As a charity we are consistently amazed by the fundraising challenges people take on to help us. Without this dedication and hard work, we wouldn’t be able to offer our programs to young people who are unable to afford the full cost. Around 95% of young people attending our summer camps come from disadvantage backgrounds and wouldn’t be able to fund their place on a summer program without financial assistance. At LIFEbeat, we have never turned a young person away based on ability to pay.
Here’s Neil Burgess setting out to run 26.2 miles to raise funds for LIFEbeat! An impressive effort. We’re so grateful for this amazing act of dedication and hard work. We asked him to give us some insight into what it takes to run a marathon:
“This is my second year running the Brighton marathon for LIFEbeat. After training hard for 4 months, nothing could have prepared me for the 72 degrees humidity that Sunday morning. I left my running cap in the room and knew I would be struggling before I crossed the start line.
15 miles in my wife Sue managed to get a cap to me and I ran another 6 miles before the pain really kicked in. 2 miles of walking, before I collected my thoughts and got going. The crowds spurred me on and I knew I had to finish. 5 hours 13 mins later I was over the finish line and straight into the recovery tent.
It was tough, but for some reason, just a few hours later I had signed up for next year and will ask Lifebeat for another Running Vest. See you all next year.”