On Sunday 3rd October Hambleton Athletics and Running Club (HARC) member Charlie Villers took on the 41st annual London Marathon that was postponed from April to Octoberto maximise the chances of a mass participation event. The marathon distance is officially 42.195 km (26.219 miles) and is run over a mainly flat course.
The 2021 race was run on the traditional London Marathon course starting in Blackheath. At about 10km into the race, the runners reach the 19th century clipper Cutty Sark docked in Greenwich and at about half way into the race, the runners cross Tower Bridge before heading east into Canary Wharf. The runners then pass through Tower Hill and enter the underpass in Blackfriars and run along the Thames Embankment past Westminster and onto Birdcage Walk. The course then runs parallel to St James’s Park before turning onto The Mall and finishing in front of Buckingham Palace.
Charlie was delighted to find the last available space for I CAN which is a children’s speech and language charity, to run in The London Marathon. This meant a huge amount to Charlie as he has a personal family experience to this Charity.
Charlie said “It has been a huge honour running The London Marathon for I CAN. To think I was only 1 of 4 runners of the Charity is hugely rewarding. I enjoyed the Marathon immensely. The event was incredibly well organised and the human spirit from runners to supporters to volunteers is something I will never forget after what has been a very challenging 18 months for us all. Of course there were difficult moments in the race but that is what the Marathon is all about. Special mention to Chris Lees who I got started with on C25K and has organised a worthy training programme. I would honestly go again tomorrow for another Marathon”
Charlie only started running for the very first time back in November 2020 after joining HARC and has gone from strength to strength smashing his goals, running fast and further than ever. He has now achieve completing the London Marathon in an incredible time of 4:10:56 raising a whopping £7,294.75 for I CAN. Wow what an unbelievable achievement!
HARC could not be prouder and can’t wait to see what he is going to do next. Huge congratulations to Charlie!
