Eight friends taking part in Sunday’s London Marathon have raised a staggering £60,000 for various charities.
The women, aged between 42 and 61, who live in Watford, Kings Langley and Abbots Langley, decided to take part after meeting for a meal and enjoying some cocktails in January.
Lottie Kennedy, 55, who lives in Garston, said: “Some of us have run the marathon before and we swore we would never do it again.
“But we woke up the day after the meal and saw our WhatsApp messages and realised we signed up to the marathon.”
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Lottie, Tess McDonald, Kelly Cassidy and Sonia Felton are all running for Whizz-Kidz.
Amrit Bal-Richards will be running for the NSPCC, Gayle Vowels is raising money for Make a Wish, Jillian Barry is supporting Dementia UK, and Tracy Gravatt is running in aid of Hospice UK.
The group, who have been friends for nearly ten years, even took their training overseas on the spur of the moment.
Lottie said: “Jillian, is caring for her mother who lives in Ireland, and she flies back every other weekend.
“It is difficult for anyone to train for a marathon on their own and we are blessed to have each other, so we decided to go with her one weekend.”
The women got up at 3.30am one Saturday morning and headed to Dublin to train.
Lottie said: “We ran in Phoenix Park and met so many other runners. People are really interested in us.
“The purpose of doing that was to support Jillian, but also spread the word.”
The team has a saying that they are “running for a good time not a fast time” as for them this is all about raising money for their chosen charities.
Lottie said: “The money that has been raised is not from big corporate companies, it is from the community, friends and families.
“Times are really hard, and we are so grateful for the support.”
They also held a fundraising event at Watford FC on March 24 where at total of £10,000 was raised and 200 friends and family attended.
Lottie added: “We just want to thank everyone for the support.
“We’re shocked at the amazing response.”
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