SINGAPORE MARATHON - DecEMBER 2007

Jeremy’s older brother Simon and his fiancée Aileen competed in the Singapore Marathon and Half Marathon events in December 2007. With temperatures of 30 degrees C, high humidity, a cloud-free sky and not a breath of wind, they described the conditions as ‘brutally tough’. Simon suffered badly from cramp during the second half of the race . . .

He said that in these latter stages, “people were dropping out like flies around me, so there was little to inspire me to keep going apart from my iPod. It was like a war-zone”. However, “two pee stops and about 5000 drinks later”, he was pleased to finish in a respectable 4 hours 22 minutes, 1195th out of almost 10,000 athletes.

Aileen admits to having trained more than Simon. She said that in her race, she “consciously held back for the first ten miles”, but for the last 5 kms, “the sun was up. It was tough going, but I just concentrated on picking off people ahead of me and using them as hares.” She did this with great success and finished in 1 hour 49 minutes, the 26th woman to finish out of 2,000 entries. Jeremy would certainly have been really proud of their achievements.

Through their efforts, Simon and Aileen raised almost £3,000 for the JWCT. The money will help the charity support athletes, both able-bodied and disabled, in realising their ambitions.