London Marathon 2009
This is our Strokecast from the 2009 London Marathon. Hear some of the overwhelming support for our runners, the friendly atmosphere and an interview with one of our star runners.
Click on the play arrow below to listen.
003: London Marathon 2009
Hear the noise and atmosphere as we present a Strokecast from the 2009 London Marathon..
Text version of the podcast:
This episode features Rich, Jim and Mat from The Stroke Association, as well as Joe & Julia Rice who are parents of one of our runners. One of our event volunteers (also the parent of a runner) features in this Strokecast too.
Rich: Hello and welcome to the London Marathon 2009 Strokecast. I’m Richard, and I’m currently in East London amongst the many fans, supporters and volunteers cheering on the runners along the marathon route.
Around 35,000 people are taking part in this world famous road race, and 180 of those are doing it to raise money for The Stroke Association. Now, one of those amazing people is Mat, who I’m waiting for at the 22 mile point to see how he is feeling and to find out just how tough those last four miles are going to be.
But earlier this week, when luckily for me Mat wasn’t running, I managed to catch up with him to see how his preparation had gone.
Mat: Hello there, I’m Mat and I’m Communications Officer at The Stroke Association – I look after the website and the intranet and I’m running the London Marathon this Sunday.
I started my running six months ago, everything has seemingly gone smoothly so far and I had my last run about half an hour ago.
Right now, it’s a mixture of excitement and nervousness as it’s my first ever marathon. It’s my first sponsored event, so it’s a whole new experience for me; as well as the excessive six months of exercise to make sure I’m ready for the run I’ve also had to work hard in trying to raise funds at the same time.
So far I’ve raised about £1400. If I’m honest, I’d love to get under four hours, yet to be honest if I run round successfully and I’m still standing and speaking I’ll be happy. Right now I’m really looking forward to Sunday and to actually starting the race to experience the whole atmosphere, which sounds electric from anyone who I’ve spoken to who’s run it over the years. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of support from everyone in the crowd, a lot of friends are showing up; hopefully, hopefully I’ll see some of them along the way and really celebrate hard with them afterwards.
Rich: Mat was looking forward to it a few days ago, but here he comes now, joining me at the 22 mile marker. How’s it going?
Mat: It’s going fine. I’ve got 4 miles to go - hopefully under four hours; I’ve got 40 minutes left.
Rich: Any aches? Any pains?
Mat: No, fine.
Rich: Great! Thanks Mat! Now we don’t want to add any more time to your race, so we’ll see you at the end. Off goes Mat to complete the 2009 London Marathon, cheered on by the thousands of people who come from far and wide to line the streets of London on marathon day.
The Stroke Association has recruited an impressive 75 volunteers to help out and shout encouragement for our runners. Most of them like to gather on Embankment in central London, which is near the finishing straight of the race, so let’s go and meet some.
Volunteer: My son Andrew is 30, he’s running today for The Stroke Association. His grandma had a stroke 25 years ago, and his cousin Paul had a stroke when he was ten, which was 12 years ago. Obviously he’s got quite an association with it, and his cousin actually plays table tennis for the Paralympic team and went to Beijing last year, so Andrew is supporting Paul and his Grandma.
Joe: My name is Joe Rice
Julia: My name is Julia Rice, and we’re the parents of Rachael Rice who won Big Brother 9 last year. Rachael is running the London Marathon today to raise money for The Stroke Association, it’s something that is very dear to her heart because both of her grandfathers have had strokes. She realised then just how devastating stroke is; it’s not like a lot of illnesses where you’re told that the person is ill and then you’ve got the time to come to terms with it. It hits you, and living with someone with stroke is different as they suddenly go from someone who can do everything for themselves to suddenly someone who has to have everything done for them. In his case he lost part of his sight, which meant that when he was trying to eat a meal he would only see half of the plate so you actually had to turn the plate around. There are a lot of things they don’t tell you about, and I don’t think people realise the full extent that stroke can have.
Rich: Joining me now is the Director of Fundraising for The Stroke Association, Jim Swindells. Jim, can you explain to us what this kind of event, the London Marathon, means to The Stroke Association.
Jim: Well it’s really important to The Stroke Association to have so many people, nearly 200 runners, raising money for The Stroke Association. It’s a really important part of our calendar both in terms of that, but also in terms of publicity it gives us, and the hope it gives to people who’ve had a stroke.
Rich: Is this the biggest event of the year, the London Marathon? Or are there other events throughout the year which bring in a similar amount of revenue and awareness raising?
Jim: We’re fortunate that we have a number of events that do a lot for us. We have the Thames Bridges Bike Ride at the end of May which has over 2,000 people riding specifically for The Stroke Association; it’s one of a number of very big events that are hugely important to us.
Rich: Do you have a message that you want to send out to a) the people doing the event, b) the people who are volunteering – obviously the runners themselves?
Jim: Firstly, I want to say a massive thank you to all of the runners, all of the 180 runners who turned out today on a very hot day, very difficult conditions. They are doing magnificently, and thank you to all the people who sponsored them because that’s what makes the difference. But of course, all of our supporters, all of our volunteers and staff who’ve actually turned out today to cheer everybody on which makes such a difference to the runners, so thank you to everybody who has taken part in the London Marathon for The Stroke Association.
Rich: So, that’s what the supporters make of it all, but now, what about Mat?
Now Mat, here we are, you’ve run the race, you’ve run the marathon, you’ve recorded a time you’re very happy with, and now you’re getting a rub down; how do you feel?
Mat: I feel very good, I feel very lucky.
Rich: What time did you post?
Mat: It’s unofficial, but I think it’s about three hours, 56 minutes.
Rich: You’re pretty pleased with it I take it?
Mat: I’m ecstatic with that, I was on schedule for my hopeful three hours, 55 [minutes] so it’s only 60 seconds out. Under four hours: I am exceedingly pleased.
Rich: It looked pretty hot out there; I’ve got a bit of a sweat on just from cheering you on, so how was it running it?
Mat: It was ok, it was hot. I was suffering with a bit of a sore head at some stages. In the end you just have to see yourself through it, and luckily no ill-effects.
Rich: Can we sign you up for next year’s?
Mat: Right now I’m quite enthusiastic about next year’s…
Rich: Maybe not in the morning?
Mat, I don’t know [about that], speak to me then.
Rich: Great, thanks Mat! Congratulations, you’re a star! That’s about it from the London Marathon 2009; we’re all off to meet up with the runners, supporters and volunteers at the post race party. Bye bye!
