Marathon Madness

For those of you that know me well, you will recall that every now and then I set myself a little challenge to raise some funds for a well know charity.  In the past I have run the Bath half marathon for the RNLI and cycled for the Princes Trust as part of the Molson Barley Growers Team.  Well I have signed up with Michelle to run the Virgin London Marathon on the 26th April 2015.  I have run a half marathon before but never committed to the full monty!  Michelle hasn't really done very much running at all but like me is often challenging herself to complete a tough physical challenge.  The training has been on-going, on and off for the last couple of months but now it is time to get serious!

We are running for Farm Africa a charity based in East Africa that aims to help farmers and their families out of poverty and end hunger forever.  Farm Africa's staff provide the tools and expertise enabling small holders to increase their harvests, whether they farm crops, livestock, fish or forest.

Eight of out ten rural Africans scrape their living from small plots.  Soils are often poor, and drought risk is high.  Farm Africa brings in smart crops, moisture retaining farming techniques and marketing skills that make these traditional farming systems viable, profitable and sustainable.

We choose to run for Farm Africa for a number of reasons.  As people connected with producing food and looking after the environment we thought that showing people how to grow food in a sustainable way was certainly better than just donating cash.  Educating and providing tools so people could grow a little more than their families need, to be able to sell or trade has be a more sustainable way of encouraging people to produce food for their communities.  The tools and support we can provide will make a real difference to the East African farmers.  I was born in Zambia and my godfather Martin Riley worked in Africa helping farmers improve their farming systems ultimately growing more food for themselves, which is why I feel that this is a very worth while charity that farming and rural people can help and support.  If you feel that you can donate, then every penny will be well spent.  Please click our Virgin Money Giving Page to get to our fund raising page.  Training updates will follow so please stay tuned to follow our progress!

Quila and myself had a training session along the sea defences at Burnham Deepdale in north Norfolk this weekend after the Norfolk Farming Conference which was a real treat.  Do keep coming back to the blog to see how the miles clock up and training runs progress.  Thank you for your anticipated sponsorship.