Back in October 2015 Get Berkshire Active and OK Our Kids teamed up to offer one lucky lady a place on the 2016 Virgin London Marathon. Louise Remenyi, 25 from Reading was the chosen one and embarked on her Marathon journey.
In return for her place on the Virgin London Marathon Louise was asked to blog about her training journey. Having never participated in running before it was a journey of; discovery, huge challenges, new friendships and triumph.
In her first blog Louise explains ‘I am starting this challenge as a COMPLETE novice runner and the fear is real!..... I do know that the first steps are the hardest and once I get into the swing of things it can only get better!’ A comment anyone can relate to when taking on a new challenge.
Whilst as you would expect, training for a marathon is a huge feat Louise showed unfaltering commitment and determination to succeed. In her last blog before the marathon Louise said ‘Each time a bit of doubt slips in I try and stop myself and think back to where I started, unable and maybe a little unwilling to run more than a few paces. Now conquering miles and miles at a time.’
Having now completed the marathon Louise has taken some time to reflect on her experience…..
‘It was pretty amazing. It was really hard, painful and emotional but a great experience. Although my main aim was just to finish I did have a bit of a goal of 7 hours and managed to squeeze just under it, finishing in 6:58:14! I am so proud of what I've achieved in such a short time.’
The London Marathon competition coordinated by Get Berkshire Active (County Sports Partnership for Berkshire) is just one project amongst a host of ‘This Girl Can’ projects being managed by the organisation. ‘This Girl Can’ is a national Sport England campaign and was launched in January 2015 to encourage more females to participate in sport and physical activity after it was identified that 1.75million fewer women participate regularly, compared to males.
Kirsty Heath (Senior Partnership Manager) from Get Berkshire Active said;
‘As well as providing Louise will a place on the London Marathon we also wanted to showcase her journey to help inspire other women to be more active. Starting something new is difficult and there will be hurdles along the way but as long as you are being active, that’s all that matters, it doesn’t matter how quickly you get there or what you look like whilst you’re doing it’.
So far Louise has raised over £800 for the two charities and you can still donate here; https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/louiseremenyi.
For further details please contact:
kirsty.heath@getberkshireactive.org
01628472851
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor
Get Berkshire Active
Get Berkshire Active is the County Sports Partnership for Berkshire promoting the benefits of sport and physical activity. Get Berkshire Active works with sporting and non-sporting partners across the county to increase the number of people of all ages and abilities taking part in sport and physical activity. Find out more at www.getberkshireactive.org ‘like’ us on Facebook; or follow us on Twitter @GetBerksActive.
This Girl Can
This Girl Can is a national campaign developed by Sport England and a wide range of partnership organisations. It’s a celebration of active women up and down the country who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets. http://www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/ @ThisGirlCanUK