Ceris Hewlings - Tenby observer wrote today
Twenty-six marathons in 26 days! To most people that’s unthinkable.
But not for Tenby’s round-the-world adventurer Rosie Swale Pope MBE, who will be stepping out on the challenge in April in aid of children’s hospices.
And her first marathon on her epic 681.2-mile journey will be in her very own home town as she launches Tenby’s new Wales Marathon.
Rosie is teaming up with Matthew Evans, chief executive of Activity Wales, and company director Scott Powell to promote the exciting three-day gruelling event which is being hosted by Tenby in September.
Rosie, 63, will run the 26.2-mile course on Easter Monday, April 5, pulling her famous cart Icebird, which accompanied her for a large part of her 21,000-mile global trek.
The Wales Marathon will be Pembrokeshire’s first ever measured marathon and will be held on Sunday, September 26, as part of the Long Course Weekend.
The whole event will include the 1,500 and 3,000-metre Wales Swim on Friday, September 24, 40, 80 or 120-mile Wales Sportif bike rides on the Saturday, followed by the full marathon and a half marathon which will start and finish in Tenby on the Sunday.
The event is being organised by Matthew, Scott and Activity Wales.
Both are well-known athletes, with Matthew having completed 10 marathons in 10 days and the Ironman Austria last year, while Scott already owns and runs many national award-winning events.
Although the event is still in its planning stages, with the marathon course - which will see runners complete loops heading out from Tenby towards Manorbier and back along The Ridgeway to Penally and Tenby - officially being measured in March, they are hoping to get as much community support as possible.
“It is unique,” said Scott. “There is no race like it that sees these sports come together over one weekend.
“We aim to get all the communities around Tenby involved and make the event a real carnival atmosphere, with a prize up for grabs for the best community support.”
Participants will be able to raise funds for their own charities, but there will be an overall charity that the event will support.
“To have Rosie running the route is quite a treat,” added Matthew.
“Tenby is hosting this event, which is fantastic for both the town and Pembrokeshire.”
Participants can enter as many of the races as they want, with finishers receiving medals which will, if all three are completed, form a jigsaw to create the unique Long Course Weekend medal.
Rosie’s other 25 marathons will all be in Wales and England.
Her friend and supporter, Geoff Hall, is currently working out her schedule, but other runs are likely to include Bristol, Bath, Hereford and Gloucester.
“It is just a little challenge, but is very important to me,” she said.
“It will be very hard, but I have been partly inspired by Matthew, who did 10 marathons in 10 days, which is unbelievably gruelling, and Eddie Izzard, who did a huge amount of marathons, one of which I ran with him,” she continued.
“I know I will be very slow and it will be harder because I am pulling Icebird. I am not superwoman; I am just an ordinary runner, but it is wonderful to be doing my first marathon here in Tenby and I will just go on from there.”
The marathons, Rosie says, are her personal thank you to all the people who have always been there for her through thick and thin, and will also be in aid of two very special hospices.
Rosie continued: “There are many causes that are forever part of my life. I felt the need to do something for the children of Britain during these marathons, and intend to raise funds and awareness for Ty Hafan, the family hospice in Cardiff, and Helen House in Oxford, the world’s first children’s hospice, and Douglas House, also in Oxford, the first for young people. They are remarkable, and I am so proud to run for them.
“I was very moved when I visited Ty Hafan recently and hope that I can raise £3,000 for each, so every penny counts.”
Rosie is now busy training, for which she has received advice from her friend Ann Rowell and Runners World.
Anyone who would like to sponsor Rosie can do so by logging onto www.justgiving.com/rosie_swale_pope.
Sponsor forms can also be found at Coastal Cottages’ Tenby office, Kate Blair Hairdressers, Webb Computers and Weybourne Guest House.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has agreed to have sponsor forms and the those who have sponsored me already,” said Rosie.
Details about the Long Course Weekend can be found at www.longcourseweekend.com and www.thewalesmarathon.com. Entries open on February 7. pic by Gareth Davies, Tenby.
The electric atmosphere over the weekend was thanks to all of the enthusiastic locals who spent hours cheering and clapping the athletes as they past through small villages, tackled hills and flew over the finish line.
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