Everyone has their own motivation for running a marathon and one of the reasons for Ollie to take part in Sunday’s event was that both his siblings already have a London Marathon medal!
CLDF has been important to my family ever since my brother, Ben, was born with the rare liver disease, biliary atresia and underwent surgery when he just seven weeks old. I wasn’t around when he had his treatment and surgery but my parents have told me that they will be eternally grateful to CLDF for the constant support throughout the whole process. They never felt like they were alone and always had someone from CLDF to speak to and guide them as and when they needed advice.

Ollie is pictured with (left to right) his brother Ben, dad Colin, mum Laura and sister Emily.
Thankfully Ben is now a healthy 29 year old and we’re so grateful for all the help the charity has given us as a family over the years. Running the marathon for CLDF has been something I’ve always wanted to do. My sister, Emily took part in 2019 and Ben got a medal in 1999 when my dad did the marathon and carried him for the final 100m – cheat! So I had to complete the trio of Owen siblings with a London Marathon medal and I saw it as a great opportunity to raise funds for a charity which means a lot to us.
My training went well, I was excited for the event and I have to say, the whole day was fantastic. The crowd were brilliant from the first 100 yards right up to the finish line. I actually preferred the first 10 miles because the crowd and atmosphere was something I haven’t experienced before, and because my legs weren’t screaming at me! Everyone was in such high spirits which really helped carry me to the finish line.
I was aiming for a time of 3:40:00 but managed to smash that target and achieve a time of 3:30:17, which I was over the moon with. Preparation was perfect, and then it was a case of putting all the hard work from training into the race day. It was a brilliant day, I raised over £3,300 and I’m already tempted to apply for next year’s marathon!