King's Lynn Stephenson Smart accountants set to take on London Marathon for East Anglia's Children's Hospices and St John Ambulance
Two Lynn accountants will be counting miles rather than numbers as they gear up for this weekend’s London Marathon.
Dan Jastrzebski and Andy Doyle, who work at Stephenson Smart, are taking part in the 26.2-mile trek this Sunday.
Andy will be running his second marathon in London to raise money for East Anglia's Children’s Hospices, his company’s chosen charity for the year, while Dan is taking on his first marathon for the St John Ambulance.
Andy said: “I’ve had a four-month training plan. I did the GEAR 10k here in Lynn, the Great North Run, a 10k at Holkham, a half marathon at Sandringham in June and some runs and events with my running group Renegade Runners.
“Training has been more challenging because it’s taken place in the summer instead of the winter. I did a lot of early morning runs to contend with the heat. I was getting up at 4am so I could finish before it got too hot.
“I’ve been running for six years as a hobby just to keep fit. I’ve got to that age where I can’t rely on nature looking after me properly!”
- To sponsor Andy visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andy-doyle2
Dan gained a charity place with St John Ambulance after volunteers supported a work colleague during a previous London Marathon.
He said: “I started my training in July and I did the Great North Run, but all the other runs have been training runs locally.
“I’m up to 21 miles so far and my plan is to leave a bit for the day. Hopefully the crowds will carry me through!”
- To sponsor Dan visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dan-jastrzebski
Andy is hoping to finish quicker than his 2021 time of 3.57, while Dan would like to finish in four-and-a-half hours.
Both are part of a group of athletes at the King Street office, which also includes Neil Gayton, who took on an ultra-marathon of 48 miles earlier this year.
Andy added: “I can remember the first London Marathon when I was 10 in 1981.
"It’s always been something once a year we would sit and watch and I never imagined I would run it once, let alone twice.”
