Clive Barter only had 15 weeks to prepare for the toughest challenge of his life but was delighted to finish the London Marathon in a very respectable time. He has also raised nearly £2,000 for the NCT.

Clive entered the ballot to run the London Marathon last year but was not allocated a place. Then on January 15th he received a phone call telling him that another runner for the NCT had been injured and had to pull out. They were offering Clive the chance to take part instead.

Luckily Clive, who is ex-forces, has always kept up a good level of fitness so was able to step up his training to be ready.

Clive was running for the NCT, a small charity which only had six runners. His partner is a volunteer with the charity and Clive was happy to raise funds for them.

Clive told the Ross Gazette: “Getting get fit enough and ready for the race in 15 weeks would have been a challenge, even without the weather we had at the end of March, snow and very cold weather, and then the hottest marathon day ever.

But on April 22nd, along with 41,000 other runners Clive took part in one if the hardest challenges he has ever undertaken. He said: “I’m very proud to say I completed it. It wasn’t my best time but considering how hot it was I feel happy that it’s done. My time was five hours and 19 minutes.”

He added: “The crowds were awesome and helped us the along the route.”

Clive has raised nearly £2,000 for the NCT. This will help the local branch, which is run out of the Ryefield Centre in Ross-on-Wye, as 40% of what is raised will go to the Ross branch. This will help all new parents to get out and meet other new parents at the groups.

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