Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Mike Pollard from ForgeFix has successfully completed the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon for charity.
Pollard, 62, who is national sales manager at ForgeFix ran the world famous 26 miles and 385 yard course in 5 hours, 40 minutes and 41 seconds. He ranked 492nd in his age category (60 – 64) and took 34,384th place overall out of a total of 40,382 runners – the highest number of entrants ever seen for the event.
His efforts have successfully raised £3,600 for Alzheimer’s Society. He completed the course dressed as a giant forget-me-not flower which forms an integral part
of the Alzheimer’s Society’s logo. Pollard was sponsored not only by friends and family but also by a number of businesses from across the building and DIY industry – including Toolbank, DEWALT, Wera, Broadfix, Roughneck, BIZ Power Tools and of course, ForgeFix.
Additional sponsors included Andyfreight (whose haulage, warehousing and distribution services are widely used by the building and DIY industry), specialist insurance brokers, P B Curran, and OGL Computer – a leading provider of IT solutions to businesses in the trade sector. Each of these businesses sponsored a petal on Mike’s costume.
Pollard continues to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society and awareness of the charity’s work because of his own personal experiences of dementia. His long-term partner Julie was diagnosed with young onset dementia five years ago at 55. She can no longer drive, read or write, and requires 24-hour care. Young onset dementia affects 42,000 people aged under 65 across the UK and accounts for around 5% of all the nation’s 850,000 dementia cases. The total number of people affected by dementia continues to increase and is expected to rise to one million by 2021.
He now plans to cycle the Way of the Roses – a 170 mile coast-to-coast bike ride from Morecambe to Bridlington – for Alzheimer’s Society on the 12th to the 14th May. In addition, he plans to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats for the charity in 2018. Mike has also applied to take part in next year’s Virgin Money London Marathon. He hopes to complete the course in under five hours by taking part without wearing fancy dress.
Commenting on his achievements, Pollard said: “Running the London Marathon was certainly arduous – both physically and mentally. Whilst I’m a little disappointed with my time, I am delighted at raising so much money for Alzheimer’s Society. I’d like to thank all those individuals and organisations who sponsored me.”
Those looking to back Pollard’s next charity fundraising endeavours can do so by visiting his JustGiving page – https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Mike-Pollard4
