Tag Archives: london marathon

We are supporting National Justice Museum’s Help a Child Appeal

VHS Fletchers are pleased to sponsor Nottingham runner Naomi McArthur.  Naomi is to run her first full Marathon this year in London on 22 April to benefit the Help a Child Appeal.

In relation to the marathon itself, Naomi describes herself as:

 “excited and terrified in equal measure!”

national justice museum help a child appeal

National Justice Museum’s Help a Child Appeal

Her chosen charity is The National Justice Museum’s Help a Child Appeal.  This aims to help children to stay away from crime and understand and engage with their rights while living up to their responsibilities.

Naomi has described her motivation for completing the marathon for the charity:

“As a mum of three, living in the City of Nottingham, I wanted to support a charity which educates local children about the law, and encourages them to become law abiding citizens, and make positive decisions for their futures.” 

The money raised helps the charity to provide educational activities for children, who might not otherwise have the opportunity to visit the museum.

How will the donations be spent?

The funded activities will help broaden the horizons of the children who take part in the program.  They encourage self-motivation, self-confidence and engagement. Young people who attend will be able to develop a range of essential skills.

These include critical thinking, debate, presentation, research and analytical skills, as well as speaking, listening and communication skills.

Any donations can help children feel empowered to:

  • Learn about the law
  • Stay away from crime
  • Make positive decisions
  • Be more tolerant of others
  • Develop aspirations for their future

In 2015/16 over 22 000 young people took part in one of the charity’s educational activities. With continued help, the charity aims to continue to reach out and provide opportunities for even more. Any donations made will have a direct impact on the children and young people that the charity works with.

Update

On Friday 23 February Naomi held a fund raiser at Suede Bar in Nottingham.

This was a great success, with a total of 115 tickets sold.  600 raffle tickets were also sold for a great array of prizes donated by individuals and local business.  After expenses an impressive total of

£1600

was raised for the charity.

Naomi had recovered sufficiently by the Sunday to take on a 16 mile run, enjoying the sunshine before the Beast from the East hit.

On Tuesday Naomi didn’t let the snow keep her indoors, and we have photographic evidence to prove it.

help a child appeal

national justice museum help a child appeal

Unfortunately, Thursday‘s planned 18 mile run was frustrated by too much snow as the Beast from the East struck and schools were closed.  Instead Naomi took to the exercise bike.

We’ll post further updates when we have them.  Click on the links below to show your support (moral and financial).

Update 2 – 16 March 2018

Since we last updated you on Naomi’s progress towards the London Marathon she has undertaken a 16 mile run from East Midlands airport to Nottingham Castle.  Here she is contemplating a flight out of the country rather than doing the run.

158 people took part in the run.  The cause on this occasion was to raise money for the UK Bowel Cancer charity.

Here is Naomi at the finish.  With five weeks to go, she has an 18 mile run planned for tonight.

Naomi has also been asking people to guess her finish time with the incentive of a cash prize, with time ranging from 3:42:10 to ‘did not finish’.  It’s £1 a guess, and she’ll ask you when she sees you.

Update number three – 3 April

Naomi enjoyed her longest run ever in the sunshine on Sunday 25 March.  This was 22 miles along the Grantham Canal.  She was dropped off in Harby and left to run home!

Another 20 miles just 4 days later was tough going on her legs, so Naomi is very happy that it’s now time to taper off.  She is slightly disappointed that the taper is not a little more drastic as there is still over 100 miles to run, with two more long runs of 15 and 10 miles respectively as the date of 22 April approaches.

help a child appeal

Update number 4 – 17 April

That’s it now, Naomi has completed her training.  The t-shirt has been printed.   Only five more sleeps to go.  Despite popping echinacea supplement and bingeing on oranges, “maranoia” has well and truly taken hold!

Naomi questions whether she will manage the last 4 miles that she hasn’t covered in training? Will her bad knee finally give way? Will she melt in the blistering heat of the hottest London Marathon in fifteen years?

423 miles have been run since January of this year, taking up 66 hours of her time.  Over £1700 has been raised so far for the for The National Justice Museum’s Help a Child Campaign.

Despite this, she remains as terrified as she was three months ago!

PS – Update 5 – 19 April

Naomi after 3 miles in the blazing sunshine this evening.  3 MILES in the EVENING!!! She’s wondering whether it’s too late to defer….

Follow the link to give to make this all worth while!

Update 6 – the day after

Despite it being her first marathon, and it being the hottest London Marathon on record, Naomi completed the race in an impressive 4 hours and 56 minutes.

We have asked Naomi for her comments on the day and she offers:

‘It was TOUGH! The hottest London Marathon on record (would you believe it after all that training in the snow, ice and rain?) and the heat really got to me. I felt unwell really early on, with nausea and dizziness from miles 5 and 6.

It was a mental battle of over 4 hours to reach the finish line from there! All ideas of achieving my dream time went out of the window and it just became a case of ploughing on until the finish line.

It was so HOT that I questioned whether or not I’d even make it to the finish line at all, but thanks to my running buddy and a great support team I did!  

I’m feeling proud but broken today, and very happy to have raised nearly £2000 for a great cause.’

Although Naomi has vowed ‘never again’ as she stumbled across the finish line, she is left wondering what she might be capable of in better conditions.

Its not too late to donate.  Follow the links below.

You can look back at Naomi’s progress towards the Marathon and her fundraising drive on her Facebook page here.

The link to make a donation can be found here.

Trainee solicitor completes London Marathon

Elliott Moulster London MarathonOver the weekend our Trainee Solicitor Elliott Moulster successfully ran the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon. The Marathon was a 26.2 miles run across the heart of Central London. This year it was ‘enjoyed’ by a record number of people. In total, there were almost 40,000 runners of every age and ability, each with their own reason to run.

First London Marathon

Although Elliott had never run the London Marathon before, it was a challenge that he was somewhat familiar with having completed the Nottingham Robin Hood Marathon on two previous occasions.

Ilkeston trainee solicitor Elliott MoulsterDuring the first occasion, which he ran for charity, Elliott was able to secure a ‘good for age’ time under 3:00:05. This achievement meant that he was able to obtain automatic entry for the London Marathon. This was opposed to entry through the formidable public ballot which can only accept roughly 1/5 of all applicants due to the sheer volume of demand.

As this was his first Marathon since starting his training with the firm, preperation for the occasion proved to be somewhat challenging.  With daily work in the firm’s Regulatory Law department, and his additional commitments including:

  • Police Station Accreditation

all taking priority, time to go out running for hours on end was often sparse.

Placed 880th out of 40 000

Notwithstanding this challenge, it appears that he is managing these commitments extremely well.  He passed the finish line of the London Marathon with a new personal best of 02:50:50. This time saw him finish 880th out of the 40 000 who entered.

He could not have done this without the support of his friends and family. Their encouragement at mile 23 saw him through ‘the wall’ that he hit towards the end of the race.  With hindsight this was probably self-induced due to his erratic pace at the start of the race!

Overall, he is pleased to that it was an amazing experience and one that he looks forward to repeating in the future, albeit in an even quicker time!

Ilkeston regulatory solicitor VHS Fletchers