Cat King, a clinical nurse specialist at Kingston Hospital, and her husband Ben, have raised £3,000 for Kingston Hospital Charity after running a marathon at home.
Cat was due to run the London Marathon in April to raise money for two charities – Mind, in loving memory of her sister Emma, and Kingston Hospital Charity, to support staff wellbeing. With the London Marathon postponed, Cat and Ben decided to run 13 miles each in their local area of Molesey, using their outside exercise hour and completing the marathon in their back garden, to support Kingston Hospital Charity.
To ensure the full distance was recognised on their watches, Cat and Ben even had to run an additional 2km, on top of their planned distance.
So far, the pair have raised more than double their fundraising target of £1,500. Money raised from Cat and Ben’s challenge will go towards Kingston Hospital Charity’s staff wellbeing appeal.
Cat plans to run the rescheduled London Marathon on 4 October, to raise funds for Mind.
Speaking about the challenge, Cat said: “I know how valuable it is to have emotional support at work and having faced the unimaginable, I will be forever grateful to my managers and amazing colleagues for their help in keeping me well, at work and at home. I wanted to use this run to say a big thank you and to help support others at work. I know that Kingston Hospital is committed to the wellbeing of staff and we hope this money can help with future developments.”
Interim Head of Kingston Hospital Charity, Rob Aldous said: “What a brilliant effort by Cat and Ben to complete this marathon during lockdown on what should have been London Marathon day, while raising over £3,000 to support colleagues at Kingston Hospital. We wish Cat well when she gets the chance to run the London Marathon in loving memory of her sister, hopefully in October this year.”
To make a donation to Cat’s fundraising page, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/catherine-king19.
To find out more about Kingston Hospital Charity, visit www.khc.org.uk.
