Dumfries and Galloway’s medical director raised greater than £3,000 for charity by tackling the London Marathon.
Dr Kenneth Donaldson described the 26.2 mile problem as “lengthy, powerful however inspiring”.
And by finishing the course in October he raised £3,048 for Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes – a charity he credit as enjoying a key position supporting the area’s well being providers.
Dr Donaldson stated: “This workforce offers a useful service to our area and does so on a completely voluntary foundation.
“Day in, day trip, these bike riders and automobile drivers are transferring from location to location, transporting supplies starting from pressing blood to blood samples, medical gear, medical notes and drugs – a lot of which will likely be pivotal within the lives of so many sufferers inside Dumfries and Galloway.
“That is a completely free service, staffed completely by volunteers and funded via charitable donations.
“For all the things they do each single day, I used to be pleased to placed on my trainers and tackle the 26.2 mile problem to lift funds for them.”
Dr Donaldson reveals it was seeing a pal tackle the capital metropolis occasion which put the concept in his thoughts.
The 51-year-old stated: “I watched a superb pal run the London Marathon final 12 months and located myself getting fairly emotional, so I entered the lottery for a spot on this 12 months’s occasion.
“Everybody informed me nobody ever will get a spot on the primary go, and none of my associates who tried with me did, however I used to be profitable.
“Previously I’ve performed common 5k and 10k runs and did a half marathon in 2017 however taking over the marathon in London final month represented a serious problem, and prompted lengthy months of coaching.
“The ambiance was electrical on the day and that along with the willpower to ship on the pledges folks had kindly made in help of Blood Bikes helped carry me around the route.
“That stated, it was a extremely powerful problem. The coaching itself took up a number of my time and was typically fairly lonely, the precise reverse of the expertise on the day.
“I'll always remember the encouragement from the gang which restored my religion in humanity.
“My T-shirt had my identify and ‘Operating for Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes’ on it and for greater than 5 hours I used to be regaled with ‘Come on, Ken, properly performed, Ken, do it for the Blood Bikes, Ken’. This undoubtedly helped get me to the end line.
“I’ve all the time liked the movie Chariots of Hearth, and one bit that all the time will get me is when Eric Liddell is struggling and when it seems like he received’t win his pal mutters: ‘His head’s no again, but’. His head goes again and he wins.
“Whereas I undoubtedly didn’t win the marathon, my head did return on the end line, and with some pleasure at what these individuals who had pledged their donations in help had been capable of do to assist such a worthy trigger.”
Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes have welcomed the fundraising efforts, expressing gratitude for the money raised.
Chairman Dave Hook stated: “What Ken did in help of Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes is superb.
“He put himself via a particularly bodily problem, however was additionally incredible at encouraging folks to make
donations as he ready to do that – all of it set to learn our groups, supporting the work they proceed to undertake on daily basis.”
Anybody who want to donate to Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes can achieve this at https://dgbloodbikes.org.uk/donate/