I am a consultant anaesthetist who has worked on a Mercy Ship in Africa for a few weeks annually for the past 21 years. One of the great needs in African operating theatres is for modern life saving monitors the most important of which is the LIFEBOX pulse oximeter. This continuously measures the patient's oxygen saturation using a simple finger probe. A fall in the value below 94% provides an early warning of a possibly serious problem enabling the anaesthetist to take appropriate action. A LIFEBOX pulse oximeter (www.lifebox.org) costs only £160 . I am running the Amsterdam Half Marathon to raise money to provide 30 LIFEBOXES for hospitals in Guinea (West Africa) where the Mercy Ship is currently serving and then Congo Brazzaville, the next port of call for the AFRICA MERCY from August 2013.

Please have a guess at my finishing time (hours, minutes and seconds) in the Amsterdam Half Marathon on the 21st October. The person whose guess is most accurate will receive a MAGNUM of CHAMPAGNE! (Include your guess with any message accompanying your donation.)