Essex student Ella Kelly has raised more than £9,200 for charity by completing the London Marathon – despite her place in the event coming as something of a surprise.
“I was told you rarely get a place when applying the first time round because it’s such an oversubscribed event, so I applied this year hoping to run next year,” she said.
“I was told only 11 weeks before that I had a place, so I didn’t have that long to train. I started by running one mile and had to stop three times! But I slowly progressed and managed to run the 26.2 miles without stopping.”
She chose to support leukaemia care with the money she raised, matched by her family’s company, Kelly Turkeys. Ella, who is currently studying environment economics and ecology at the University of York, added: “My cousin suffered from leukaemia a few years back. He’s fully recovered now thankfully, but it’s a charity close to my family and so I decided to run for them.
“It’s possibly the hardest thing I’ve done, but the atmosphere and support is so overwhelming, and having raised around £9,200 for the charity definitely makes it worth the pain.”
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