Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.

I don't know whether it was the excitement of the Olympics, the sense of getting ever nearer to 40, or the desire for a long weekend in Paris, but I seem to have signed up to the 31st Paris-Versailles race from the Eiffel Tower to the Versailles Palace - 16k with a stonking great hill in the middle.

I want to raise money for a charity called Five Talents, which provides small loans (which are nearly always repaid) and training to entrepreneurial people stuck in the poorest countries in the world. Just £100 can be enough to create a sustainable business to provide for a family for a lifetime, and create further jobs to support other familes. I know Tom Sanderson who heads up the UK operation, and have been inspired by the stories he has shared. Read more at www.fivetalents.org.uk.

So please sponsor me now!