Running The Marcothon For Roy Castle

1 DEC2011

Rory McGinley's news posting of November 14 on the Marcothon caused quite a bit of discussion in the SCOTTISH RUNNING GUIDE office. Running every day in December - a minimum of 3 miles or 25 minutes whichever comes first. No day off on the 25th or on New Year's Eve, no day off even if the roads are ice-bound.

"Naw, forget it."
"Christmas Day as well!"
"What about the day of the Christmas lunch, party, Boozathon?"
"What about the day AFTER the Christmas lunch, party, Boozathon?" were the responses.

And then my pal Peter phoned to let me know that he was going into hospital on December 5 to have cancer treatment which would wipe out most of his month. Peter had been diagnosed with cancer in 2004, had major surgery and radiotherapy, but then made a great recovery. Since that time he has been a huge supporter of charities involved in cancer research, particularly the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

The plan clicked into place - sign up for the Marcothon, run to raise funds for the Roy Castle Foundation and support my buddy. I caught the usually Scrooge-like boss at SCOTTISH RUNNING GUIDE in an unguarded moment and he agreed to sponsor me for £1 for every mile I ran during December.

Rory, who had recently completed his first half marathon, and whose family had also been affected by cancer, signed the Marcothon pledge and got the boss to sponsor him too. Next to join SCOTTISH RUNNING GUIDE Marcothon team was Bellahouston Roadrunner, Stevie Bell, who had lost close family members and friends to cancer. Stevie is being sponsored too.

So the fun starts today when Rory McGinley, Stevie Bell and Terry Brennan start their Marcothon odyssey. If you'd like to support their efforts to raise funds for the Roy Castle Foundation then go to their justgiving webpage.

For full details of the Marcothon, the winter running phenomenon that was initiated by Marco Consani and Debbie Martin-Consani visit the event Facebook page.