Doctor who beat virus to take on run for hospital

Perthshire man looking for helpers as he raises money for the Archie Foundation

A Perthshire Covid doctor and keen runner has organised a (co)’rona-thon to raise funds for Tayside Children’s Hospital.

Dr Tom Fardon has planned the race to take place exactly five months after he himself was diagnosed with Covid-19.

The NHS Tayside respiratory consultant has built up thousands of Facebook followers with his regular Covid-19 updates throughout the pandemic.

The marathon will take place on Sunday in the Carse of Gowrie.

Prior to the pandemic Dr Fardon had begun training for two marathons he and a friend had planned to do this year.

He said: “We started our training after Christmas, and everything was going to plan, with PBs each at the Inverness Half Marathon in March.

“Then the ’Rona hit, and everything changed.”

The Covid-19 pandemic not only upset his training schedule, his marathons were cancelled and he himself contracted Covid-19 which left him unable to run or cycle for more than two months.

He said: “All our marathons were cancelled, my work in the Covid unit meant my training dropped off in the second half of March, then on April 13 I was diagnosed with Covid.

“My fitness fell away completely. When I tried to jog in May, I had to stop after five minutes because my heart rate was at 120% and I felt very dizzy.

“My post-Covid symptoms lasted between eight and 10 weeks, and are mostly gone now, and I’m back enjoying running and cycling.”

Dr Fardon should have been running the world-famous Boston Marathon next Monday.

But the rescheduled race was cancelled for the first time in its history.

Instead, Tom is going to join other runners around the globe and do it virtually.

And he is inviting others to join him as he does it in Perthshire – even just for 5 or 10k.

Naturally the respiratory doctor is keen to ensure the run is done with “good social distancing” to comply with regulations and to keep everyone safe.

He said: “Whether you’re quick or not-so-quick, if we could get people running the course at the same time, that would be really great – if you can run along with us, that’s great too!”

All the money raised will go towards the Tayside Children’s Hospital charity, the Archie Foundation.

Anyone interested in supporting the cause should go to justgiving.com/team/ Rona-Thon20

If we could get people running the course at the same time, that would be really great

Dr Tom Fardon had to give up planned marathons when he tested positive.

Dr Fardon is now well and truly on the mend.