A proud Plymouth father was ‘over the moon’ when his daughter agreed to take on a marathon with him to raise funds for the NSPCC.
Mark Bricknell, 60, had been preparing to run the Newport Marathon in October 2020, but the pandemic restrictions saw the popular event postponed.
A lot has changed in that time, not least that the proud father had a running partner – his daughter, Megan, who was stuck in New Zealand during the first stages of the pandemic.
Mark, who lives in Plympton, said:
“In what seems a life time ago now, and despite telling my wife Lily that my days of longer races were done due to the training, when I saw I could do Newport for the NSPCC I jumped at the chance.
“Eighteen months after entering, a major birthday, a bucket list wish fulfilled of being on a TV gameshow, half a stone heavier, and one dodgy ankle I can’t shake, along the way I picked up the company of my beautiful daughter Megan.
“When she said matter of factly ‘yeah, I’ll run it with you dad,’ not only was I gobsmacked, but over the moon. We did a half marathon together a number of years ago and I never thought I’d top that but this has.”
Megan, 27, who works in construction, was travelling with her boyfriend when she started running again.
She said:
“When Covid hit we got stuck in New Zealand, it was very scary at the time as no one knew what was going to happen. With nothing to do, I started running again as I’ve always enjoyed it and I continued when I finally got back to the UK when I started running weekly with Dad. Not only is the marathon a bucket list thing to do, it’s not every day you get to do it with your dad. Mark and Megan hoped to raise £1,000 for the charity between them – but ended up with a total of more than £1500.
Mark said:
“Over the years I’ve run loads of races, quite a few marathons and even a couple of Ironmans, but to run this distance with my daughter topped everything. My wife Lily works for the NSPCC in Plymouth, and I know the last 18 months have been difficult. Younger people have suffered more than anyone during Covid, so anything I could do to help, however small, I thought I would.”
Every £4 raised for the NSPCC could help a trained volunteer Childline counsellor answer a call from a worried or frightened child or young person. Children can contact Childline 24/7 on 0800 11 11 or via childline.org.uk where 1-2-1 online chats can be requested.
Anyone interested in becoming a fundraising volunteer with the NSPCC can contact Alison.Armer@nspcc.org.uk.
