The Virgin London Marathon 2014 is one of the biggest marathons in the world, with around 35,000 competitors looking to complete the race each year. The ballot alone attracts more than 100,000 applications and generally is closed with-in 2 hours of being opened!
Anybody who applies will have to wait until October 2013 to find out if they have been successful in securing a place for the April 2014 race. And with not even half of the people entering being picked, chances might seem a bit slim…
This time last year Anouska “Noosh” Zerna was thinking exactly the same thing. She’d harboured the goal of running in the London Marathon for almost 7 years but had always put it off due to the feeling that a ballot entry ticket was too far out of reach. But then Noosh found an alternative. She applied for an ACRF Gold Charity fundraising spot– and in July 2012 her application was accepted.
As an official Gold Charity fundraiser Noosh was given a fundraising target of $9,000.
Noosh told us, “When I found out I had a place I was daunted, by both the amount of training and fundraising tasks ahead of me. However, once I started raising money and the momentum grew, it became apparent that the fundraising element would give my training extra focus – I couldn’t let down all the people who had supported me!”
“I never considered myself a particularly good runner but I do like to put myself out there and achieve the out-of-the-ordinary. This is why I took on the challenge of running the 2013 London Marathon for the ACRF” said Noosh.
Noosh ended up smashing her $9,000 target and in the end raised a massive $13,500 for cancer research! She’s done an incredible job bringing cancer research dreams closer through the significant funds she’s raised to help fight cancer, while at the same time has been able to live out her own dreams of running in the London Marathon.
We asked Noosh to give us a recap of how she felt while running the marathon and her views on this amazing achievement:
“The buzz surrounding the race once I got to London was amazing and 700,000 people turned out to watch the race!”
“I started strong and felt great; it was like all the people running around you were carrying you along. Kids on the sidelines had their hands out for hive fives. I saw some friends of mine in the crowd just after going over Tower Bridge – a special moment.”
“I will never forget running through the streets of London or the amazing sense of achievement that I had done what I had set out to do and raised so much for the most worthy of causes,” said Noosh.
This year, this could be you. So, if you want to follow in Noosh’s awesome footsteps (quite literally!) and run the most popular marathon in the world while helping to fight cancer, well… we think Noosh said it best:
“If you can run a little, have determination in spades and want to be a part of a truly great event why not make the 2014 London Marathon your next challenge?”
Apply for a Gold Charity Fundraising spot at the 2014 Virgin London Marathon here.
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