Sheffield dad raises £20,000 after taking on the London Marathon solo...for the second time

Fundraiser extraordinaire Nick Goodson was fired up and raring to go ahead of the world’s most popular marathon in 2019. But, with just days to go, the dad-of-two made an embarrassing discovery.

To his horror, he discovered he’d made a mistake in his entry and didn’t have actually have an official place. Rather than let all those who had sponsored him down, on the big day Nick took to the streets of Sheffield and ground out the miles solo.

So the 45-year-old was delighted to have bagged an official place running for Bluebell Wood this year, only to join tens of thousands of others in disappointment when the famous race was cancelled. Luckily for Nick, he was already used to pounding the pavements without the roar of the crowd to keep him going.

“It’s easy to say that’s there’s more important things in life – but when you’ve been fundraising for so long for such an incredible charity you couldn’t escape the feeling of disappointment when it was cancelled,” said Nick, who’s the Managing Director of Chapeltown construction company BDB Design Build Ltd.

“I know charities like Bluebell Wood rely on big fundraising events like the London Marathon so it was very welcome when they made to decision to go virtual.

“This time I picked my route a lot more carefully. Last year the route I took was pretty much all uphill for the last six or seven miles and I didn’t want to repeat that.

“I plotted my route around the Don Valley area and I must have come across 30 or 40 different runners in their Virtual London Marathon vests going in various directions, which gives you a nice boost.

“I also had my wife Caroline and my two children Amelie and Esme who cheered me on and have supported me all the way through.”

Nick’s now raised a phenomenal £20,000 for Bluebell Wood this time out, on top of the £14,000 he raised in his last solo outing. Almost £7,000 came from an anonymous donor.

FROM THE EDITOR

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