laura roth
Laura Roth and Katie Pinnes
http://www.justgiving.com/lauraandkatie
Laura and Katie got in touch recently to let us know about their fundraising drive for this year’s London marathon, to raise money for Children in Crisis.
Here’s Laura, to tell us the story of why they’re doing it, and how it’s going…
What inspired you to run the marathon?
Four years ago, my 28-year-old brother Nick died in a tragic climbing accident in Nicaragua. Nick was passionate about helping children less fortunate than him, and in his job as a lawyer he dedicated many hours to pro bono work. It is Nick’s drive, determination and desire to help others that inspired Katie and I to run the marathon and raise as much money for Children in Crisis in his honour as we can.
Experiencing first hand how life can sometimes be cut tragically short made us realise that, if you have ever dreamt of doing something, you should try your best to go and do it when you have the opportunity. All our lives we have shared a dream to run the London Marathon, but it was Nick who inspired us to chase our dream and get a place this year.
Have you been surprised by how much you’ve raised?
There are no words to describe how we feel about everyone that has pledged their support to our challenge. At the start we had a dream target of £5,000, but now we are determined to hit £6,000 as we are so close.
Justgiving has made donating really easy. All the messages of support have kept us going for the last few months when the weather has been miserable and the sight of a treadmill has been too much to handle!
Can you tell us more about your charity?
Children in Crisis provides children in some of the world’s poorest countries the educational opportunities they need to help transform their lives. At the heart of their ethos is the belief that education is an essential tool to overcome poverty.
The charity has been active through a number of different projects in countries around the world including Afghanistan, East Timor, China, India and Sierra Leone. A link to the charity is available through our Justgiving page.
How’s your training going?
Our training has gone really well and we’re now well into the ‘taper’ zone. Plenty of Lucozade Sport, pasta and Mars bars have been involved, but we can safely say we are both sick of our playlists on our iPod.
Our longest run a few weeks ago went well and we are both so excited to make it to the start line, bright and early in less than a week. Bring on the big day!
What are you looking forward to about the race?
We have been amazed by the number of people that have said that they will come and watch us. A few of our friends and family have taken charge to ‘rally the troops’ and organise people the whole way along the route. We know that Children in Crisis will be there as well to cheer us on and it will be hard to miss us with our bright yellow vests and a picture of Nick on the back to keep us going.
We are also excited for the special atmosphere across the whole course, and the final 200 metres down Pall Mall which every past marathon runner has told us is an unforgettable experience. We are looking forward to seeing London from a different perspective and can’t wait to take it all in and feel like ’stars’ for the day.
Is there anything you’re not looking forward to?
We’ve heard that 20-26 miles are really difficult, but after a certain jelly bean tip at the Justigiving event last week by Monty Halls, we will be taking his advice and treating ourselves to a sweet every mile. We keep asking ourselves what we are going to do after it’s all over as it will be strange to get back to a normal life without such a busy training schedule to fit in! Somehow, we don’t think we’ll miss the treadmill!
What are your best fundraising tips?
We’ve set up a group on Facebook, tweeted many times and updated our members regularly.
We have also sent our story to a couple of local newspapers, who have written articles on us to raise awareness both of our challenge and Children in Crisis.
We have told everyone willing to listen about our marathon quest. The best fundraising tip we can give is to slip the marathon into any given conversation whenever anyone asks how you are.
Where can people sponsor you?
Please visit http://www.justgiving.com/lauraandkatie
and we’ve also made a video on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2tnWPZ8hIQ
Laura Roth and Katie Pinnes
http://www.justgiving.com/lauraandkatie
Laura emailed us this week to say:
“I was going to tweet you but then thought I would run out of characters!
I am running the London Marathon this year with my friend Katie. We are running for Children in Crisis in memory of my 28 year old brother who tragically died four years ago in a climbing accident in Nicaragua.”
We wish you all the best Katie and Laura! Thanks for getting in touch.
