Friends’ pledge to run marathon when they hit 40

Lisa Harrop, aged 40, is to take on the 26.2 mile challenge on Sunday April 21 to raise funds for the charity Anthony Nolan.
The charity helps cure blood cancer by matching patients with bone marrow donors and she was also inspired to join the charity’s bone marrow register, after being contacted by the Chief Executive officer of a company she knew, adding:
“He had been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma and was asking people to consider being a donor, his email really touched me and I decided there and then I wanted to register in case I was a match for him or anybody else.”
Running the marathon, she said, would be her biggest challenge to date.
“I started running with my friend Louise when we entered into Race for Life. We both enjoyed the feeling that running gave us and the sense of achievement crossing the finishing line, so together we slowly progressed from running 5K to 10K and then onto half marathons.”
After both friends made a New Year’s Eve pledge to run a marathon when they reached 40, her goal, she said, was about to be realised.
A spokeswoman for the charity, Rebecca Highfield, said it cost £100 to recruit each person onto the bone marrow register, adding: “The more money Lisa raises, the more people we can add to the register, and the more lives we can save.”
To sponsor Lisa Harrop visit

, or text 70070, with the words LONM72 plus the amount.
Anyone else from the West Berkshire area running the London Marathon can email details and / or photographs to