Nursing home administrator, Michael Radbourne, put his best foot forward in aid of a charity that is dear to his heart when took part in the BUPA Great Capital Run in London’s Hyde Park.
Michael Radbourne, administrator at Sanford House nursing home at Dereham, Norfolk, raised £300 for the Alzheimer’s Society after completing the 10-kilometre run in one hour, nine minutes and 48 seconds. Michael, 39, who works with Alzheimer’s sufferers at the nursing home was one of 11,000 people who took part in the event on Sunday July 15.
“Taking part was a great opportunity to get fit and raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society at the same time,” said Michael. “As we have a 15-bed unit at Sanford House for people with Alzheimer’s, I am very aware of the fantastic support the society provides for people with the condition. My aim was to raise as much money for them as possible.”
Part of the money raised was from a fun “Turkey Run” sweepstake. Friends and colleagues were asked to guess Michael’s finishing time at £1 a go - with the best guess winning a turkey donated by Bernard Matthews.
Michael had been training for the event since February, running three times a week for 40 minutes. “When I first began training I couldn’t even run the 200 metres to the end of the street,” he recalled. “It was about a month before I could run a mile without stopping.”
But Michael took the challenge so seriously that he even completed a BTEC course in running prior to the event. “The course taught me that there was a lot more to jogging than putting on a pair of trainers,” he said. “It covered everything from dealing with injuries to what you should eat.”
Michael first took up jogging last year when he signed up for a one mile run for Sport Relief. In September he will take part in his third run – a 10-kilometre sprint round Sandringham Park in aid of Cancer Research.
The Alzheimer’s Society recently appealed for donations to help with the cost of its national campaign to end to restrictions on drugs to treat Alzheimer’s.