17/04/11: Jeremy Joseph’s second Virgin London Marathon saw him complete the massive run with a colossal £61,000 raised for the Elton John AIDS Foundation!
It was difficult to escape the sporting theme in London this weekend as Wembley played host to 2 FA Cup semi finals, and central London hosted the 31st London Marathon, but being the more accessible both by location (almost everywhere) and price (free), for us, the latter won out… well, that and the chance to see celebs and hot guys in Lycra (did we mention just how shallow we are!?)
Anywhoo, rising at the crack of dawn, we joined G-A-Y’s Jeremy Joseph on Blackheath at the start as he prepared to compete in his 2nd marathon event. Chatting to him we were surprised to learn that he was more nervous this year than last as, regardless of how much training and preparation you do, almost anything can happen on race day.
After a quite fruitful game of spot the celebrity (Cheryl Baker, Joe Pasquale, Nell McAndrew, Charlie Brooks et al), it was time for the off so as Jezza popped a couple of Nurofen for an injured ankle and set off on 26 miles and 385 yards through the east end and up to Buck House, we jumped on to a waiting motorbike and sped off to the White Swan at Limehouse where the G-A-Y crew were out in force to support their leader.
Keeping track of him using the Marathon website meant we were easily one step ahead, but as he sped through the half marathon in just over 2 hours, a full 15 minutes ahead of schedule, we were concerned an overly fast start would have a detrimental effect on the latter half of his race, and indeed at 17 miles Jeremy was suffering from a painful quad muscle, but thankfully as he trotted past us at 21 miles he seemed happy and smiley and had settled in to a comfortable 10 minute mile pace. Skipping ahead to the finish on the Mall we arrived just in time to see him hop across the line well ahead of last year’s time in a very respectable 4:25:59.
To give you an idea of just how well Jeremy did, other celebs he beat included: Bucks Fizz’s Jay Aston (6:25:54) and Cheryl Baker (5:19:46), Eastender Charlie ‘Janine’ Brooks (5:05:47), Calum Best (5:48:20), Jack Tweed (4:52:35) and model Agyness Deyn (4:45:16), and he was only 1 minute behind Olympian Iwan Thomas MBE (4:24:52) who collapsed over the line and less than 10 minutes behind the ex Royal Marine and winner of Channel 4’s ‘Superhuman’ Monty Halls (4:16:19).
For Jeremy the marathon is not just a vanity exercise, it is a chance for him to align the G-A-Y brand with a great event to raise money for charity, and as he stepped across the startline this year he had just tipped over his target £61,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and when we spoke to him 24 hours after the event he had just raised his target to £100,000, has a place booked already for next year’s London Marathon and is looking for other money raising challenges.
Mr Joseph we doff our caps and salute you.
Words and photos by Chris Jepson
