On the runway for charity!
LAST Sunday on a beautiful spring day, your local Air Ambulance’s (WNDLR) frontline crew swapped their boots for trainers when they brought the London Marathon to their Coventry airbase in support of the UK’S 2.6 Challenge.
Critical Care Paramedics, Sophie Birt and Gavin Alexander and Dr Stuart Maitland-knibb ran the 26.2 mile marathon distance up and down the runway at Coventry Airport to raise vital funds needed to keep the service on the frontline.
The event coincided with the national effort where the public were asked to take part in a fun activity whilst following government social distancing guidelines, based around the numbers 2.6 or 26 and fundraise or donate to charities that need our support more than ever before.
Every day of the year, your local Air Ambulance is helping to save lives and their dedicated crews are continuing their lifesaving missions throughout this difficult coronavirus pandemic in providing vital critical care support to the brilliant NHS.
Like all charities, the coronavirus has had a huge impact on the Air Ambulance. Due to the closure of its retail division and the postponement of many fundraising events, the charity is facing a pro- jected net loss of at least £2.18m for the months April to June.
For that reason, Dr Stuart who has worked for the Air Ambulance for the last 14 years, decided to take on the challenge.
When he is not helping to save lives, the dad of three is also a medical advisor for East Midlands Air Ambulance and works for the University of Central Lancashire Medical School.
I really enjoyed chatting to the very funny Dr Stuart on BBC CWR to see how he was feeling before the big day and during his challenge.
Stuart who turned 50 last week, was meant to run the actual London Marathon on Sunday and was quite open in admitting that he hadn’t put as much training in as he would have liked.
Despite that, he and his colleagues successfully completed their challenge and helped raise essential funds for the charity they love and work for.