Les, a running superstar and amateur football player turned to running in his late 30s. He is taking part in this year’s ABP Southampton Half Marathon, and he has chatted to our events team about his past achievements and reasons for running!
At age 42, Les ran from Brighton to Guildford to raise money for his son’s football club a staggering 40 miles! He first ran the distance and then encouraged other players to cycle with him afterwards.
Les has also used running to raise money for vital charitable causes. He has supported and fundraised for the Prostate Project in Guildford. The Prostate Project is a charity which supports men with prostate cancer. Their ambition is to give men a better chance of fighting prostate cancer. In the past 20 years they have raised over £8 million. They also support the Royal Surrey County Hospital, St Luke’s Cancer Centre and Frimley Park Hospital in their efforts to detect and treat prostate cancer. We have provided equipment, specialist nursing staff and run an active patient support group.
During the lockdown Les set his own challenge called run away from COVID, which saw him run everyday since January 21 to a whopping total of 264 miles.
Catching a 5 am ferry to the start line Les completed the Auckland Marathon, virtually completing the London Marathon Les has gone on to run the first York Marathon and with over 80 medals noting stopped him from running an event.
Now, at the age of 76 we are looking forward to welcoming Les back to Southampton, this will be his 5th Southampton event in a row! Give Les a big cheer if you see him on the day.
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