April 2016 –
Huge congratulations and thank you to Richard Bannister for completing the Virgin London Marathon yesterday to raise funds for Little People UK!
What an amazing achievement and we can’t thank you enough for thinking of LPUK when you decided to take this up. Richard completed the marathon in a fantastic time of 4 hours and 50 minutes.
Donations can still be made via the JustGiving page!
October 2015 –
Hello, I’m Richard Bannister, and in 2016 I shall be running the Virgin London Marathon in aid of LPUK.
This will be my ninth, and quite possibly, my last marathon.
I ran my first marathon whilst at junior school at the tender age of nine, although the distance was spread over a few days running! I have since run a further seven full marathons, Dublin twice, Edinburgh twice, Nottingham, Chester and London along with numerous half marathons, 10k’s, 5k’s and also a couple of kilomathons too! I’m not the best runner in the world by a long shot, but I have enjoyed it over the years and in my final marathon I’m hoping to finally crack the sub four hours time, but that remains to be seen!
I’m a serving firefighter for Humberside Fire Service stationed in Grimsby, Lincolnshire and I enjoy my job immensely. It certainly brings up many surprises as no two days are ever the same! But probably the best part of the job I do is helping people in so many different ways, being there when someone needs our help.
I have a great family life with my lovely wife Lisa and our lovely ten year old son, Joseph. We love to go walking and camping and generally try to have fun as much as possible.
I’m really looking forward to raising the awareness of Little People UK by running the marathon and will hopefully see some of you during and after the race.
To sponsor Richard please visit his JustGiving page here.
February 2016 –
LPUK Patron and Chairperson, Warwick and Sam Davis, visited Louth on Monday, to help launch Richard Bannister’s Virgin London Marathon run.
Richard is a school friend of Sam and after seeing her nominated for Inspirational Women of the Year 2014 on ITV’s Lorraine, decided to get in touch, with his intention of running the London Marathon and raising funds for LPUK.
Richard previously explained: “I ran my first marathon whilst at junior school at the tender age of nine, although the distance was spread over a few days running! I have since run a further seven full marathons, Dublin twice, Edinburgh twice, Nottingham, Chester and London along with numerous half marathons, 10k’s, 5k’s and also a couple of kilomathons too! I’m not the best runner in the world by a long shot, but I have enjoyed it over the years and in my final marathon I’m hoping to finally crack the sub four hours time, but that remains to be seen!”
Along with Warwick and Sam, reporters from The Louth Leader and The Grimsby Telegraph were there during the launch to encourage support.
This will be Richard’s ninth marathon and possibly his last, and he has set a target of £2,000.
To donate and help Richard meet his target, please visit his JustGiving page here.
March 2016 –
In February, LPUK patron and chairperson Warwick and Sam Davis visited Louth, to launch Richard Bannister’s Virgin London Marathon run, since then Richard has been in full training for his ninth Virgin London Marathon, which is on Sunday 24th April, 2016. He has kindly taken time out of his training and work schedule to give us an update on how his training is going:
“So, training, how’s it going? I’m not too sure to be honest! I know it’s coming to its peak now, but my goodness, it’s been a hard slog! Much, much harder than I anticipated! Even though this will be my ninth marathon, training this time has really surprised me and been much harder than I thought it would be. Possibly because I’ve not run for upwards of four years since my last marathon!
I’ve stuck to a training plan of three runs a week, a quick 2 miles, a tempo 6-8 miles and a long steady run of 12+ miles. Currently my long run distance is up to 19-20 miles. Along with three runs a week on non running days I do strength and core training as well as cycling on my turbo trainer.
I have decided to take this week off running as I feel physically exhausted and have quite a few aches and pains. Hopefully this short rest will give me a new lease of life for the final three weeks training before the marathon on April 24th. I have to say a massive thanks to Amanda McMullen at Massage For All in Louth for her continued support and skill. I really would be struggling even more if it wasn’t for her help.
After saying all that though, I really am looking forward to the big day! I’m hoping I can grab the attention of Denise Lewis if she’s doing her interviews on Tower Bridge again. Hopefully I can grab a few words with her on the TV to get some coverage for LPUK.
Fingers crossed I can reach my target of £2000 sponsorship for LPUK. This is the most important thing for me. I don’t mind how long it takes me to get round the marathon or how much pain it gives me doing it, it’s all about the help I can give to people I’m never going to meet! That’s what is important to me, helping others.”
Little People UK are hugely grateful to Richard for attempting this amazing feat, we really do value his fundraising and even more, his support.
If anyone can go to cheer Richard on, please do, he would be immensely grateful for your encouragement, and of course, we want to show our appreciation. If you can’t make it, don’t forget to tune in to watch the Virgin London Marathon on BBC, hopefully we will see Richard on the television.
Once again, a huge thank you from everyone at LPUK.
If you would like to donate, please visit his JustGiving page.
