A REDDITCH charity runner has completed his first ever marathon at the age of 63, raising more than £2,000 for three charities.
Bernard Sugden smashed the five-hour mark in the recent Manchester Marathon, after only taking up distance running seven years ago.
He said: “With around 40,000 runners, the atmosphere was amazing and there were tens of thousands of supporters lining most of the route to cheer us on.
“It was a very emotional experience that made those months of training around the pavements of Redditch worthwhile.
“I couldn’t have done it without the support of Redditch STARS members who organised training runs for the group of us who did the marathon and forced me to get out of bed for the cold, dark and wet training runs.
“I’m also so grateful to everyone who generously donated to my three good causes including Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees (BRWR), helping me to exceed my sponsorship target.”
The cash Bernard raised will also be split between the British Heart Foundation and Prostate Cancer UK
Bernard, a retired Nokia sales director, chose the Manchester Marathon after a close friend died during a heart operation in 2021.
At the wake, the man’s daughter and her friend said they would tackle the marathon in his honour.
Bernard said: “I wasn’t ready back then but now that I am, it had to be Manchester.”
And, in answer to whether he would take on another marathon: “Well probably not as the last 10km were very hard and I really had to push myself.
“But I finished and was actually close to achieving my target time.
“So now the pain has subsided, I am already wondering if I could improve.”
Bernard has Just Giving pages for all three charities.
Visit: justgiving.com/page/bernard-sugden-10 for his BRWR page.
