A Burnham-On-Sea runner has raised over £2,200 by completing the Weston Super Half Marathon for the town’s rescue hovercraft charity BARB Search & Rescue.
Nathan Parr has presented the funds to the team of volunteers at BARB during a visit to one of their latest training sessions.
He says: “The run was harder than I expected. I had been training around Burnham which is mostly flat, so running along Weston beach and managing the hills was hard going.”
“I had a great support network with a fellow runner encouraging me, and my family from Burnham and Birmingham saw me off and watched me cross the finish line. I was aiming for 2hrs and 30 minutes to complete the half marathon and managed to finish in 2hrs 14 minutes and 55 seconds which I’m incredibly pleased with.”
“I only anticipated reaching a target of £500, so it has been overwhelming just how many friends, family, colleagues and incredible local businesses have donated, with messages of support. I am so grateful to them all especially to my work place, Offsite Solutions, who matched my increased £1000 target.”
“Around 6-7 years ago I was hoping to join BARB as a volunteer and help them with the fantastic work they do. Unfortunately, due to ill health and being diagnosed with a lifelong health condition, that became no longer possible. This was my way of contributing a small amount of support to a fantastic cause.”
A BARB spokesman says: “A massive thank you and well done goes to Nathan for all his efforts in completing the half-marathon and raising such a fantastic sum for our charity’s life-saving work.”
”As a small, local independent charity, we rely on local community fundraising like this to keep our rescue hovercraft service running, so Nathan’s donation is hugely appreciated and we thank him for his support.”
