With just under seven weeks to go, we wanted to share a quick update.
First and foremost, we want to thank all of our donors so far – we are building towards something quite remarkable – We don’t say this lightly, or without merit – with seven weeks to go, Will is second overall for fundraising for London Marathon, the biggest single-day charity event in the world where an estimated 40,000 people raising money.
When he reaches his revised fundraising goal in the end (granted, double where we are now), we have no doubt he’ll be right at the top. So far so good. Thank you again!
But we need more! Perhaps this update can persuade you to part with some cash…
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WillCoetzer
Will’s training has been going well and considering progress, he revised his target time to 2h48! See Strava (Will Coetzer) and Will’s Instagram for detailed/hilarious updates if you are interested in following it.
Couple of highlights over the last eight weeks:
- February should be nearly 300km ran for the month
- Will had an interview yesterday in London with the National Autistic Society – we’ll publish it on social media once we receive it.
- Last Sunday Will won a Parkrun in Cape Town, South Africa (1,000 runners – a top 20 global ParkRun). He ran 5km in 17m48sec (3m.31s pace/km). Considering he had to run another 7km afterwards as part of his training, at a similar pace, we’re sure he can break 17mins for 5 km. Challenge accepted!
- Every Sunday, Will’s “long slow distance” run has been increasing by 6km – currently at 36km (5 mins/km) – Jelly legs come to mind….
- About three weeks ago we decided to raise the fundraising goal to £40k. If we achieve this, we’re likely to be the top “solo” – i.e. one person fundraising not a team – fundraiser for the entire London Marathon (40k+ people). Quite remarkable! As it stands, Will is leading the solo charge, and second overall.. check out: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/fundraising/marathon-leaderboard
- Unbelievably, we’re just about to hit £20k raised…
- Oh, also, Maurten, the energy gel/drinks company sponsoring Kipchoge (the first man in history to run a marathon under 2 hours sponsored some gels! Maybe I can get Kipchoge to interview me after the race haha.. you don’t ask, you don’t get!! I’ll settle for a photo.
After all, it’s the 40th London Marathon, Will’s turning 40, so it feels right to try raise £40k and also go for 4.0 per km (2h48min). Seems only right that we nail this….
We’ll send another update with 4 weeks to go!
As a parting thought, just circling back to the reason Will is doing all of this in the first place – raising money and awareness for autism awareness for the National Autistic Society. Do not hesitate to send this on to anyone else that the message may resonate with, or someone you know who might just want to have a chat about autism.
GO WILL!!!!
Sincerely,
Stratum International
DONATE HERE: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/WillCoetzer