Shropshire runners in London Marathon boost for charity

A string of county entrants got sponsorship to undertake the gruelling 26.2-mile course and raise much needed money for charities.

Olympic star Mo Farah might have failed to fulfil his ambition and win the London Marathon at the first attempt yesterday, coming home a disappointing eighth, but all the Shropshire entrants came up to scratch.

Among them was Neil Jefferson, running for Wrekin Road Runners who had to defer his place from last year but finally made the starting line finishing in a time of 3:33:58.

Also from Wrekin Road Runners, Amanda Lysons completed the course in a time of 4:33:17, raising £1,300 for Cardiac Risk In The Young. Debbie Pierce, also from the club, ran her first ever marathon in 4:54:41.

A trio of runners from Bridgnorth made the run, including none other than the town's mayor, Ray Gill.

Councillor Gill was taking on the London Marathon for the seventh time to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Also from Bridgnorth was 56-year-old Dana Power, who was raising cash for Cameron's Fund, a charity set up in memory of a two-year-old boy from the town who died of an asthma attack in 2008. Dana run the marathon course dressed as Puff the Magic Dragon, the mascot of Asthma UK.

West Midlands Police officer Catherine Loosemore completed the Bridgnorth trio, running for the NSPCC.

Others who lined up for the race yesterday were three colleagues from Oswestry's orthopaedic hospital.

Curtis Langley, Dr Huw Williams and Harriette Page were running for the hospital's Bone Cancer Centre Appeal for which they had already raised £4,000. Runner number 1818 yesterday was Shropshire Star works manager Alan Palin who was making his marathon debut.

Alan is vice-chairman of the 240-strong Wrekin Road Runners and he was joined by seven fellow club members in the race.It was not only the first London Marathon for Alan, it was his first time over the 26.2-mile distance and in an excellent run he managed to break the four-hours barrier.

He said: "I have done about 20 miles in the past and I was fine when I got to halfway, by Tower Bridge, but as I went on I hit the infamous 'wall'. I felt terrible, really bad but pressed on and managed to come home in three hours, 54 minutes.I did what I wanted to. I did the London Marathon."

Derek Howes and Joanne Wilkinson, both of Lawley running club used their places to raise money for disabled children charity Scope. They travelled down Saturday to register and make the most of the exhibition before putting on their fairy wings, tutus and scope t-shirt and running the 26.2 miles in the sun loving every minute.

Trudy Blakemore was raising money for Birmingham Children's Hospital. Trudy is a member of Ludlow Runners.

Suzanne Galliers, 48, from Oswestry, hoped to raise £1,700 for Asthma UK through her effort.