A group of charity runners have conquered the London Landmarks Half Marathon to raise more than £8,000 for charity.
Nine runners from the Highland Hospice challenged themselves to take part in the annual endurance challenge in London at the weekend.
The group were among 14,500 runners to take on the 13.1 mile challenge through the heart of the capital, and have now raised £8,105 for the charity.
The half marathon was the first large scale running event to be held since the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
‘Finish lines not finish times’
It was also communications officer Wendy Morgan’s first ever half marathon.
She was joined by fellow runners Marc Wilson, Jackie Carruthers, Jude Colligan, Chloe Robertson, Will Robertson, Andrew Morgan, Kellie Calder and Lee Thomson.
The group were joined by sponsor Scott Murray from Inverness Travel, armed with Hospice balloons, sunflowers and banners to cheer for the runners.
Ms Morgan thanked everyone for their support in helping them conquer what she describes as “an incredible challenge.”
“The atmosphere was phenomenal at the event with lively cheer stations all the way around,” she said.
“We had an amazing team in London with great camaraderie. Our runners were of all abilities – some highly experienced and fast and others, like me, who had never attempted anything like this before.
“Those who finished quickly joined Scott who was there cheering us all on, and provided huge encouragement and support to everyone else.
“Our motto for the weekend was “finish lines not finish times”. Our reason for doing this was to support the Hospice and we were delighted to have raised such a great amount.”
London Landmark Half Marathon
The London Landmarks Half Marathon is a closed road, central London run and is the only half marathon to go through both the City of London and City of Westminster.
It started on Pall Mall and finished by Downing Street, taking runners past iconic landmarks such as Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral, Nelson’s Column, the Gherkin, the Shard, the Tower of London and the London Eye.
Inverness Travel donated and organised all flights, accommodation and travel for the hospice’s participation in the event.
Ms Morgan thanked their sponsors for their support as they look forward to participating again in the future.
She added: “Biggest thanks has to go to Inverness Travel whose sponsorship and support was honestly incredible. We all came away with medals but the biggest one should go to Scott Murray.”