A group of 14 runners completed the London Marathon as part of the Rennie Grove Peace team this weekend, raising over £60,000 between them.
The runners who joined the start line in Greenwich had a variety of reasons for supporting the charity – from personal experience of the care provided by the charity, to working for the organisation.
Kate from St Albans joined the team to fundraise after her father, Howard, was cared for by the charity’s Hospice at Home service.
Kate had never run a marathon before and took up running as part of a weight loss journey that enabled her to tackle this mammoth challenge.
After crossing the finish line Kate said: "The whole day was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions: brilliant, overwhelming, humbling and painful - all rolled into one!
"It's so hard to choose my favourite part of the day. The support and love shown by every single person was phenomenal, whether it was from the other runners, or the crowd who took time out of their lives to make it such an amazing experience.
"It restored my faith in humanity. Coming round that corner up on to Tower Bridge is the best feeling in the world! You hear the roar of the crowd before you see it, and it is incredible to feel the power of thousands of strangers motivating you.
"I also had my own support crew around me on the day. My fiancé Graham was cheering me on along with my son who lives abroad and flew in just to be there.
"My daughter and her friend came. And my sister, who has a fear of crowds, conquered her fear just so she could be there to cheer me on.
"In the run up to the day I offered that if people were sponsoring me in memory of a loved one, I would write the name of their loved one on a bow and sew it to my running jacket.
"By the day I had 170 in-memory bows on there. When the marathon got really tough, I reminded myself that those people couldn't run, so I'd better just get on with it."
In their journey to reach the start line the Rennie Grove Peace runners had developed a strong community – sharing tips and tricks as well the highs and lows of their training.
Kate added: "I was lucky enough to train for and run the first few kilometres of the London Marathon with Lynsey who I met through the Rennie Grove Peace London Marathon team.
"We are now friends for life!"
Donations are still coming in for the runners via the team’s JustGiving page.
Donate today at: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/rgplondonmarathon2024.
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