Congratulations to our Marathon runners
Congratulation to the three runners who completed the London Marathon on Sunday 13th April raising funds for Operation Agri (OA). "It was horrible in terms of the weather," said one of the runners, Peter Westbury of Horfield Baptist Church, Bristol. "We had sunshine, hail, wind and rain, and got absolutely drenched. But what an event! The atmosphere was great and the crowd was just wonderful. I was thrilled simply to finish and take part, and it was great to be able to raise the profile of Operation Agri. Many of my friends and colleagues had no idea about it." Peter’s time of 4h 30min was almost exactly what he had predicted.
The other two runners, Merrill April (pictured) and Gwen Kearley, both of New Park Road Baptist Church, Streatham, London, are raising funds for the development projects supported by OA in Zimbabwe.
Merrill, crossing the finishing line in 3h 45min, said that her fancy dress attracted lots of comments. "I broke what was the current Guinness World Record for running the London Marathon in a superhero costume by some 23 mins but there were faster supergirls than I on the day so I am not the current record holder. Nonetheless it was a great day! I passed the Masai warriors at mile 2 and met so many inspiring people on the journey to the finish. As ever the organisation was faultless, the volunteers on drink stations, etc. selfless and always good humoured even in the pouring rain and the crowd were fantastic."
Gwen Kearley, children's minister of New Park Road Church, finished what was her first marathon in 5h 15min.
Two of OA's trustees, Sue Headlam and Stan Crees, joined the crowd to encourage the runners by waving an Operation Agri flag.
So far over £4000 has been sponsored for OA through the three of them. Visit their pages on the Just Giving website:
http://www.justgiving.com/peterwestbury
http://www.justgiving.com/gwenkearley
http://www.justgiving.com/merrillsrun
OA chairman, Russell Ashley-Smith, said, "We give thanks to God for this opportunity to spread the news of OA's work and raise further funds for our work helping some of the poorest people in the world."
