Vin Marshall:

VIN Marshall ran the London Marathon in ideal conditions, raising to date £750 for Lifton Community Centre.

The centre has been running for 16 months and many individuals and organisations are using it for different purposes, which is great to see. However, the car park and the grounds around the centre need to be finished and the money raised will help towards this.

Vin completed the course in 4.50.11, which she is delighted to say is ‘good for age’ and hopefully, this will get her an automatic place into next year’s event and she will once again run for Lifton Community Centre, as she would like to see an outside balls game area in the grounds, once the landscaping is complete.

She wishes to thank all those that have supported her this time and if there is anyone who still wishes to donate they can do so either directly with Vin on 01566 784513 or via www.virginmoneygiving/laviniamarshall1

Tim Robinson:

HAVING raced the London Marathon the past four years, running for the genetic blindness charity Retina UK, Launceston Road Runner Tim Robinson took up a different way of running the event this year.

Tim said: “Retina UK is a cause close to our family because my grandma has been blind for as long as I have known her due to a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which causes the deterioration of the retina.”

Having completed his guide running course last year, Retina UK got in touch with Tim earlier this year, to ask if he would like to be a guide runner for a visually impaired runner at the marathon.

Retina UK introduced Tim to Will, and they met a few times for training runs together and to get to know each other and to adjust to each other’s running styles.

Tim said: “Because Will had never run the London Marathon before, his excitement and enthusiasm was contagious throughout the process of training and preparing. It made me realise how fortunate we were to be able to run the marathon together, and increased the enjoyment of training, knowing that we would be running together. We did a few long training runs together; Will was aiming for a sub-4 marathon time.”

Having thoroughly enjoyed running the marathon together, Will’s target time was ultimately achieved, leaving both men delighted.

Tim added: “On the day we managed a finish time of 3:56 together, and Will was ecstatic. Having run many marathons before, nothing compares to the feeling of elation crossing the line together, having navigated the course successfully. The highlight of the day was seeing Will’s extended family supporting on the route. It was emotional being able to point out his family and wave; this gave us both a boost into the second half of the run. Hopefully this experience will just be the start of guide running with Will. We have been inspired to look for other big races together, now that Will has the confidence to run within big crowds of people.”

Tim added: “My main thanks goes to Will, who was a total inspiration for having the confidence and enthusiasm for running the marathon; not letting anything hold him back. It was awesome to see Will receive a huge amount of support along the route, as people noticed his VI Runner vest, and they were clearly in awe of his efforts. I think a lot of the crowds were inspired by what Will was doing.

“In the process of running the marathon, Will and I raised over £3,000 together for Retina UK.

“Also thanks to the charity Retina UK, who have now supported and encouraged me with five London Marathons, and also the support they have provided my family. This was easily this toughest marathon I have run, at the end it was hard putting together sentences, having talked to Will all the way around the route and described the course.

“He was in a much better state than I was. I have actually just recovered my voice, having had to shout throughout the race, because of the amazing wall of noise from the massive crowds! But it was all totally worth it, to witness Will’s truly awesome achievement.”