Shedding the pounds for marathon effort

The Yorkshire Marathon next weekend is his main focus, but he already has one medal under his belt, having completed the Sheffield Half-Marathon two weeks ago.

David, who is running for Radar Dog Rescue, said: “At the start of this year, I decided that I wanted to lose weight and thought that the only way I could do it was if I set myself a challenge, so I decided to try to enter the London Marathon.

“Sadly, I did not get allocated a place, so I entered the Yorkshire marathon instead.

“At the start of my training in February, I was weighing in at close to 18 stone and through hard work and lots of exercise and training, I managed to get this down to 15 stone.”

David, of Mexborough, is no stranger to fundraising, as one of the founders of a non-profit group known as Mental Health Awareness and Support Services, which organises the annual musical event Mindfest.

He added: “I wanted to raise money for a different type of cause this time around and Radar is a cause close to my heart.

“They have suffered so much during the pandemic and really struggled to make ends meet but still somehow managed to provide amazing care for the vulnerable and abandoned dogs that they rescue and rehome.”

He added: “The Yorkshire Marathon in York is a big challenge for me as I really don’t like running and have struggled with it in the past, but what’s the point in taking part in a challenge if it’s going to be easy?”

David thanked everyone who had sponsored him so far and appealed for anyone else who could help push him closer to his £1,500 target to visit https://gofund.me/ae3fdefa and make a donation.