Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my page.
As you probably know, I’ve been running for several years but earlier this year, I decided to sign-up for my first ever marathon. I entered into the Marathon Eryri (Snowdonia Marathon) event which is happening on Saturday, October 28th 2023. I’ve done a few half marathons in the past but this will be my first full-length marathon and the Snowdon course looks difficult, with a killer of an incline in the final 3 miles (picture attached!).

I’ve been training as best I can these past few months but I've decided to use this challenge to also fundraise for charity. Any sponsorship to help me in reaching my goals would also give me that extra bit of encouragement and motivation to persevere through the final few weeks of training and of course battle through the race itself!

All money donated will go towards the ‘Go Go Gwilym’ appeal which was set up this time last year by my good friend Jon Kidwell in order to raise funds for his son’s specialist physiotherapy. Gwilym Kidwell is 6 years old and has Cerebral Palsy. He is scheduled to undergo a life-changing spinal operation called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy at Bristol Hospital sometime in the next three months. This operation can only happen once in a child’s life and is the only means of offering permanent reduction in spasticity (muscle tightness).

Gwilym has been ‘in training’ for this operation over the summer but the specialist physiotherapy in the immediate period after the operation will make all the difference in determining a successful outcome. This type of intensive, specialist and frequent physiotherapy is not available on the NHS. All money raised will be spent on ‘SDR Rehab UK’ sessions delivered by qualified Strength & Conditioning Coaches with great experience and Masters-level qualifications in supporting children’s rehabilitation after SDR surgery.

Gwilym’s parents are using the children’s fundraising charity ‘Tree of Hope’ to manage funds; this guarantees that the money raised directly for Gwilym can only be used for medically approved physiotherapy costs for him. There’s also the added benefit that individual donations can be increased by 25% because of the option to add Gift Aid. 7.5% of all donations to ‘Tree of Hope’ in relation to Gwilym’s appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of ‘Tree of Hope’ to cover core operating costs. (You can find out more at www.treeofhope.org.uk/go-go-gwilym)

I’ll update this page with any news about the timing of the SDR surgery as Gwilym and I could be completing our final ‘training’ at the exact same time!

Thank you for your support!