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Midsummer Marathon…a madness newsflash!

By the time you read this I will be either tired but ok, or stiff as a board and crocked but at long, long last the deed is done…

The four rounds were completed on a hot summer day in England which is as rare as were my birdies during the four rounds…I walked all four and carried a half-set of clubs too…not the smartest idea in hindsight.

The scores for each round weren’t my finest I have to say and although round two was my best, round four was, ahem…distinctly pants!

For those of you who elected to ‘motivate’ me by sponsoring me for the number of birdies, gross score, fairways hit, greens-in-regulation and putts per round I have two items of news :

1.       Your money is safe as none of the four rounds were my finest – they were ‘scrambler’s specials’

2.       I was cursing you, particularly on rounds three and four, as instead of just completing the hole and moving on to the next tee, my (limited) mental energy was drained by having to fill in Capello-esque statistical pro-formas after every hole…aargh!

The four rounds took 13 hours including an hour for a quick lunch and a ‘vertical drinks break’ (no sitting down at that stage in the game) before the final round…I nearly ordered a pint of Greene King St Edmunds at lunchtime, as the thought of a cold pint of fine blond ale had me smacking my lips, but my playing partner for the second round warned against it so I had to wait six hours until the fourth round was done before I could quaff away…boy did it taste good!

Many, many thanks to all my friends and colleagues who have generously donated to both charities…my original target of £5,000 now looks un-ambitious as the latest estimate is closer to £15,000, but that’s because so many of you did dig deep and make a donation for which I am very, very grateful… thank you.

For those of you who meant to do so but were distracted by the vuvuzelas and England’s progress in the World Cup, there is still time…you can still make a donation, so on behalf of both Macmillan and Arthritis Research UK, I urge you to…even if we’ve raised a fantastic amount of money, as Sir Terry at Tesco might say, ‘every little helps’, so please do make a contribution.

The good news for all of you is that I feel so knackered after completing the ordeal it’s unlikely I’ll be tapping you up for ages/ever again, but it was very worthwhile and a great craic to boot.

Thanks also to my dear pals at The Gog Magog golf club who accompanied me for each round – Simon Coe, Bob Ward, Clive Birch and Graham Dowsett (who did rounds 3 and 4…madman), to Alison Siddons my PA for helping me set up the event and to Pete Rumsey for drawing the caricature of me for the charity website – which has found its way into one or two publications much to the chagrin of my wife and my mother.

With very best wishes and thank you

Rooney

On 26^th June I will be attempting to play 72 holes (ie 4 rounds) of golf in one day.  As many of you will know, golf is one of my great passions and you might think that this isn’t much of a challenge – I beg to differ!  Even by my standards, this is a ‘golf marathon’ but I am attempting it to raise much needed funds for two charities that are very dear to my heart - Macmillan Cancer Support and Arthritis Research UK.

Although I love golf dearly, this will be tough as I will be walking c. 20 miles (probably more given my errant driving) and playing 300-400 shots across 16 hours so I really do need your support.  Some people have generously given their time to play a round with me on the day but I also need your money to help me achieve my goal, particularly to help keep me going during rounds three and four!

These really are two great and important charities and I would like to raise as much money for them as possible.  I have set an ambitious target of £5,000, so please give what you can.  No matter how small, your donations will be supporting the very valuable work undertaken by Macmillan Cancer Support and Arthritis Research UK.

The former, I’m sure, will be well known to you as one of the leading UK charities providing care and support for many people whose lives have sadly been affected by cancer.  The second charity is close to my heart as my dear mother has suffered in quiet agony for over twenty years from what is a crippling and severely debilitating condition.

You can make your donation on-line via this web page to support Macmillan Cancer support but if you would prefer to donate to Arthritis Research UK, please send a cheque to my PA, Alison Siddons, at Greene King plc, Abbot House, Westgate Brewery Bury St Edmunds Suffolk IP33 1QT, made payable to Arthritis Research UK.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you in advance for your support and contribution - please dig deep and donate now.

Rooney