Stepping up to the mark in Berlin to boost charity donations

When your team says it’ll take on a year of fundraising, and completes the Three Peaks Challenge to prove it, you have to step up to the mark – and that’s just what Rod Thomas, managing partner of Harrison Clark Rickerbys, is doing; on Sunday, he runs the Berlin Marathon to raise a target of £20,000 for the firm’s charity.

Rod, who ran his last marathon 13 years ago, has taken on this challenge – one of the world’s ‘big six’ marathons, attracting about 44,000 runners, to play his part in the firm’s relaunch of its charity.

Running 26.2 miles, roughly the equivalent of Worcester to Birmingham, he will put his training to the test – along with many 5am starts, this has included waking up a family of wild boar in the Forest of Dean; they were not happy to be disturbed!

He said: “I thought my last marathon would be the last one I did, but I’ve seen how the corporate team have taken on their year of fundraising, and I wanted to make my own contribution. The charity has done great work for so many charities around our offices, raising more than £250,000 since its inception, and we want it to be able to reach so many more people.

“It will be a privilege to stand at the start line – from there on, anything could happen! I very much want to raise £20,000, so if people can donate on our JustGiving page, that would be excellent. I’m very grateful for the extremely generous support I’ve already received.” https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/HCRCTMarathon

Charities who want to apply to the charity for support should contact [email protected].