Hi 

The race is all over but the fund raising is now under way at home and at work. The pupils and staff at King Edward VI Aston School are being very generous with their sponsorship and with additional fund raising activities.

The marathon was, yet again, an enormously, spectacular event to be a part of. Being one of the 37000 starters was a huge privilege and the whole event was organised brilliantly. Apart from a downpour before the start, the weather was good for runners but the increased spectators made it difficult for Rachel and the rest of the supporters to get around. Highlights for me included seeing Gordon Ramsay (who was not having an easy run) and overtaking Iwan Thomas the current commonwealth 400m record holder. Ben also ran but experience conquered youth on this occasion and I finished in 3 hours and 32 minutes with Ben following in later.

Thankyou for all your support and sponsorship.

My original message:

Thanks for visiting my on-line donation page. I am running the Virgin London Marathon 2010 to raise funds for Amnesty International. I am also using the marathon as a means of raising awareness of this charitable organisation. So many people throughout the world do not enjoy the freedoms of speech, action and political or religious expression that we do, and have little of no opportunity to improve that situation. Amnesty has spent decades successfully representing these peoples rights and acting on their behalf. However, this requires public awareness of what amnesty are doing, support for their actions and the necessary funds to enable progress to be made. 

It goes without saying that the people who Amnesty represent are not often in a position to speak for themselves. If Amnesty did not exist, these people's enforced silence, imprisonment, slavery, child labour etcetera, would go unquestioned. 

Please help me to raise awareness of Amnesty International, and to raise £2000 to support their work.

Visit the Amnesty website (www.amnesty.org.uk) to find out what you can do. Find out which countries and companies are abusing people's human rights. And, if you can do so, please make a donation on this site. 

Thank you very much.