Rugby colleagues celebrate successful marathon challenge

Months of intense training paid off for two colleagues from Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College who successfully completed Coventry Half Marathon.
Sam and Ian.Sam and Ian.
Sam and Ian.

Science teacher Ian Goldthorp and teaching assistant Sam Cheetham joined 4,000 competitors on the start line before running the 13.1 mile course last week.

Both colleagues said they were pleased with their results.

Miss Cheetham completed the course in two hours 24 minutes, and Mr Goldthorp finished with a time of one hour 54 minutes.

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Mr Goldthorp decided to use the half marathon as an opportunity to raise funds for Oxfam’s Yemen crisis appeal which the students at Avon Valley School had recently heard about in assembly.

Oxfam’s crisis appeal webpage estimates that half of Yemen’s population, 14.4 million people, need help with food and that 3.3 million people, including half a million children, need medical attention because they are in a life threatening condition due to food shortages.

Mr Goldthorp has now raised over £300 for the appeal.

He said “I saw a special BBC Newsnight programme about the famine in Yemen and this was the driving force that inspired me to get off the couch and raise some money.

“The programme showed how Oxfam are trying to get in and get aid to those who need it most, so I decided I would support their efforts.

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“I had just tucked my own kids into bed all safe, loved and nourished and felt I had to do something. It was a huge task for as I hadn’t ran a long race since 2014 when I had persistent knee injuries.

He added: “I am very pleased that I exceeded the fundraising target I set myself, and would like to thank all those who supported me.”

For more information or to sponsor Ian, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Ian-Goldthorp1

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