On Sunday 3rd September 2023, Matthew, Alex, Julie and Stella boarded a train at 7am to get to the start of the Big Half, a half marathon starting from Tower Bridge and meandering around for 13 miles until it finished at the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. It was a very warm day with about 15,000 runners, and thousands of people lining the route to cheer them on. Mike and Amelia saw them off and managed to catch a few shots along the way, and it was clear to see that it was a really hard run. The front runners finished in just over an hour, with Sir Mo Farah coming 4th.

Running for NLT, Alex came 230th in 1 hr 17 mins and 41 secs, a really good result when you think that the first elite standard lady runner to finish took 1 hour 10 minutes. Matthew came 5810th in 1 hr 54 mins and 13 secs, having suffered with hamstring problems. Stella came 7648th in 2 hrs 1 min and 7 seconds, and Julie came 7696th in 2 hrs 1 min and 17 secs.

A huge thank you to our four heroic runners, and heartfelt thanks to all those who sponsored them for the run. So far it has raised over £1000 for NLT’s work, plus some Gift Aid, a brilliant effort.

If anyone else would like to sponsor the team for their fab effort, the link is:

Julie/Matthew/Stella/Alex: https://2023thebighalf.enthuse.com/pf/julie-houghton