Blissed Out Marathon Man?

I am sure that some of you have seen this strange man out running, or waddling around Sevenoaks and Westerham recently and saw he was wearing a t-shirt advertising the Las Vegas Marathon and wondered what it was all about.

The answer is that Jon Drake, Managing Director of A-TEC International Ltd based at The Crown in Seal and also a regular player for Otford Colts and Westerham Vets football teams, has been training for six months and next week will be putting this training to the test when he tries to complete the 26.2 miles in less than four and a half hours at the Las Vegas Marathon.  This time limit being because the Las Vegas roads are only closed for this amount of time, and, for those of you who have not been to Las Vegas, The Strip, where the race finishes, is about as busy as the M25 in rush hour! The pavements are also full of people so if you don't make the 4½ hours deadline then those who have not completed the race must get on the stragglers bus and forfeit a finish. Jon says ' I know several people who have run the London marathon and no-one that I know has done so within this time limit so it will be a tough ask for my first and probably only marathon!'.

He has chosen to run on behalf of the charity Bliss (www.bliss.org.uk) which does lots of work on behalf of premature and sick babies. Both Sam & Millie, his two children, were born early and his daughter spent the first couple of weeks of her life in an incubator. They were very lucky and it was just a matter of routine where she needed careful monitoring, but many babies are not so lucky and they need the help of an organisation such as Bliss to help them through those early days. Also, for those children with ongoing health problems, their parents need the support and help they can get from Bliss to continue to care for them through these difficult early times.

Jon is hoping to raise £2500 so if you would like to sponsor him you can go to his webpage at www.justgiving.com/Jon-Drake and place a donation.