Read about the people who help make the marathon and 10 in 10 such a unique event
Ali joined Brathay in October 2008 following a move back to the Lake District after living in the French Alps for five years.
Ali's previous experience centres around tourism but she was looking for a new challenge and so joined Brathay's fundraising team as a Fundraising Co-ordinator.
Ali provides support to the fundraising team but also has a key role in the organisation of fundraising events; such as the Brathay Windermere Marathon, which raises money to help support Brathay's work with children and young people.
Scott joined Brathay in 2001 and since January 2009 has been Head of Fundraising. Amongst other things, Scott is responsible for developing the fundraising strategy and managing the fundraising team to ensure its implementation.
Scott is committed to developing new sources of funding to support Brathay's work with children and young people through integrated community and residential programmes.
In addition to funding Brathay's community projects Scott is also developing an events programme, individual giving, and corporate partnerships to support Brathay's charitable mission.
A member of Hogweed Totters Road Running Club, David has to date completed 26 marathons, including a current personal best of 3:05. His running also includes some ultra marathons and has competed across the UK and in Majorca and Latvia. In the autumn last year David completed five marathons over consecutive weekends.
Naomi will be the youngest woman ever to attempt to run 10 marathons over consecutive days. Her first marathon was in 2003 and it was a further four years before Naomi felt she could face the trials of another. Having run the London Marathon in just seconds over 5 hours she was compelled to try again and beat the 5 hour barrier. After a third marathon she was then hooked and went on to run 5 marathons and 2 ultras in 2007. She is now committed to becoming the youngest female to complete 100 marathons.
Naomi’s personal best time is now 3:38 – having improved by over a third during the last two years. In 2009 she completed 34 marathons in 9 months, including 4 double marathons and a triple marathon at Beachy Head, Greensands and Dublin on consecutive days
Ray introduces an international flavour to this year's Brathay 10 in 10 travelling from Galway in the West of Ireland to take part. He started running nine years ago and has completed 70 marathons to date. Ray completed the Brathay 10 in 10 in 2008 and last year took part in the Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert. He has set himself the goal of running his 100th marathon in the Connemarathon 2011.
Ray is the race director of the Connemara International Marathon in Ireland and also a member of Athenry Athletic Club.
Jim ran his first marathon in Leeds in 1982, struggled from half way onwards, and left it 14 years before trying another one! His marathon running then gradually increased to the point where he completed seven events in 2008, including trips to Dublin, Paris and New York. He has also completed an Olympic distance triathlon. Jim’s plans for 2010 include the Canadian Ironman Triathlon in August.
Jim competed in the Brathay Windermere Marathon in 2008 and ’09 where he was inspired by the scenes of the runners completing the Brathay 10 in 10. So much so that he will on the start line for the 2010 10 in 10!
At 23 Adam is the youngest competitor in this year’s Brathay 10 in 10, however he already has a great deal of endurance running experience. Adam is a member of Tavistock Athletic Club and votwo.co.uk and to date has completed 71 marathons and 27 half marathons. His personal best time is 2:51:48 was achieved at the 2009 London Marathon.
Adam established a new world record in 2009 by completing the Brathay 10 in 10 in 32:47:03 – a staggering average time of 3:16:42 for each marathon.
Chris ran his first marathon in 1995, the London Marathon, and quickly followed this with the Siberian International Marathon in Omsk, Siberia, where his experiences were followed by readers of Runners World. It was a further five years before his next marathon in Venice in 2000. He has since raced in Ireland, Iceland and Norway.
In recent years Chris’ attention has turned to long distance off road, trail and fell running events. However the Brathay 10 in 10 sees Chris training hard for a return to the roads around Windermere in May this year.
Michelle broke the previous Guinness World Record for the most consecutive marathons run by a woman in 2008 at the Brathay 10 in 10.
She runs for York Knavesmire Harriers and has taken part in marathons in the UK, Europe and USA. She has the questionable pleasure of celebrating her 44th birthday during the 10 in 10 this year and has set herself the goal of running 100 marathons by her 50th birthday.
Anna has run over 80 marathons to date, including road and trail courses, over varied terrain – some fairly flat, some very hilly, and in conditions ranging from blazing sunshine to strong winds and snow! She is aiming to become the youngest woman to complete 100 events of marathon distance or further, with her 100th being at Brathay. Anna also competes in ultra-distance events, running courses of up to 100 miles (with plans for longer ones this year).
Anna’s work for Woodhouse College gives her the opportunity of inspiring young people to also take up running. As a teacher, she gets to see how the choices made by young people affect their future opportunities and fully appreciates the impact that the work of Brathay can have on the lives of the more disadvantaged and vulnerable.
A member of Milton Keynes Lakeside Runners, David started marathon running in 2005 and has to date completed 83 marathons, 9 of which have been run in 2009!
In January 2008 he ran his first ‘double’ marathon, running the Portland Coastal Extreme Terrain Marathon followed by the Gloucester Marathon the day after. He has since completed half a dozen doubles and in December his first double including a 30 mile ultra marathon.
David has run in 17 different countries and has even donned his white jumpsuit to run as Elvis 3 times, including an appearance on the Las Vegas strip at the Las Vegas Marathon run through wedding chapel! Only in Vegas!!
At the end of May he will tackle his first 56 mile marathon - the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
David competed in the 2009 Brathay 10 in 10 and is returning this year to repeat the event – clearly 10 times around England’s largest lake isn’t enough for some! He can easily be recognised by his unique airplane style finish and is looking forward to daily flights in May!
Alyson started running marathons in 1997 completing the London Marathon just 5 months after the birth of her second child. To date she has run 21 marathons which include Paris, Langdale, Lochaber, Snowdon, Draycote and Windermere. She has also competed in several mountain marathons in Scotland and the Lake District.
Alyson is employed as a Staffing Manager by the Brathay Trust where she has worked for the last 12 years. Alyson trained for and completed the 10 in 10 in 2009 after being inspired by previous participants. In training last year she achieved a Personal Best in every race distance often winning prizes in her age category. Her marathon PB stands at 3:44 which puts her in the ‘good for her age’ category. This was an incredible achievement for Alyson as in the past she had entered races and jogged around as the overweight lass at the back of the pack and never saw herself as a serious athlete. Completing the challenge in 2009 has changed the way she sees herself and has given her the confidence to enter once again this year!
In 2009 Alyson raised over £7500 which will be used to work with disadvantaged young people in the Furness Area. The generous donations from family, friends and even strangers who had been inspired by her story was really motivational and helped her get through the tough times during training. She is hoping that this year people will be inspired by her second attempt enough to help her provide support for more young people.
She is grateful for her support network of family and special friends without whom she would not be able to attempt this massive challenge once again.
Phil competed in the Brathay Windermere Marathon in 2008 and 2009. He has also completed various other marathons and half marathons across the UK. Phil also competes in Triathlons and has taken part in Ironman events in the UK and Austria.
Steve is a member of Bourton Roadrunners and started running in 1981 at the age of 18 - his first ever race was a marathon! In 1990, at the age of 28, he became the youngest athlete in the world to complete 100 marathons and with that became the youngest member of the 100 Marathon Club. In 1992, Steve then went on to break another world record by running the most marathons during a year, a total of 87 which he ran in an average finish time of just 3hrs 14min, over an hour quicker than the previous record holder. It was also in 1992 at the age of 30 that he became the youngest athlete ever to complete 200 marathons.
He is now well on track to completing his lifetime goal of running the 'Fastest 500 marathons by an individual athlete'. Having so far ran over 490 official marathon races of which 431 have been completed in under 3hrs 30min, his current average finish time is just 3hrs 18min. Steve hopes to run his 500th marathon in April 2010 and then look to become the first athlete to run 500 sub 3:30 marathons in the Olympic year of 2012, which also coincides with his 50th birthday!
Steve completed the inaugural Brathay 10 in 10 in 2007. He then came back the following year to set a new world record time of 35:20:45, and then returned yet again in 2009 with a further improved performance to set a vet category best time of 33:16:34.
"I particularly appreciated the great and supportive marshalling in HUGE numbers and the course which never lacks interest all the way around. " Marcus Crompton, 2009 marathon runner
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