Burghclere man achieves personal best and smashes fundraising target in London Marathon
A Burghclere man who ran the London Marathon for an animal rehoming charity smashed his fundraising target as well as his personal best time.
Jon Joy, a 45-year-old scientist, was the British Hen Welfare Trust’s (BHWT) chosen runner this year because of his interest in running and his work volunteering for the charity.
The trust re-homes commercial hens after they have outlived their commercial viability. The hens are rehomed as pets, and are saved from slaughter.
Mr Joy said: “It was fantastic. It was a wonderful day. Having reached my fundraising target and my target pace, it just completed the day absolutely fantastically.
“It was great to get the British Hen Welfare Trust’s logo front and centre all around 26 miles of London.”
Mr Joy finished the 26-mile course in three hours, 27 minutes and 27 seconds, a couple of minutes within his target time of three and a half hours.
He also managed to raise £2,565 for the BHWT, 128 per cent of his initial target of £2,000.
He also said: “The marathon was very tough, far tougher than I had perhaps expected. Mentally, it’s very difficult.”
Mr Joy found miles 18 to 23 “very tough”, but he was fuelled to the finish line by all the support he had received leading up to the race.
His story was also featured in BBC Sport coverage of the marathon in a half-hour programme titled ‘My Reason to Run’ that is still available to view on BBC iPlayer.
He was contacted about a week and a half before the marathon took place, and he told broadcasters about the BHWT and why he was running the marathon for the organisation.
He said: “I was on BBC One on Saturday and Sunday afternoon at prime time, which is kind of unbelievable.
“For the charity, it’s the icing on top of the cherry on top of the cake. I’m so pleased I’ve managed to get their message out a little bit further.”
Mr Joy hopes that his story featuring on the programme will increase awareness of the BHWT and all the work that they do.
