Quirky costume grabs attention as greetings industry makes good showing in big event
Paul Roberts lived up to the greetings industry’s reputation for quirkiness as running carrying a rotary washing line garnered plenty of coverage during the weekend’s London Marathon – even flashing his sponsors’ names during a BBC interview!
The Rachel Ellen Designs commercial director achieved a creditable 5hrs 43mins 14 secs as company co-founder Rachel Church (4:20:05) and Postmark retail group co-owner Mark Janson-Smith (4:04:42) also did brilliantly in their first-ever marathons to complete the 26.2mile course on Sunday, 2 October.
However, extreme ironing nut Paul admitted: “Time wasn’t so much in my thinking – the organisers knocked my idea of pushing an ironing board on the head so I had to quickly think of a plan B, which ended up being something I only tried for the first time on the day!
“I also picked up a nasty cold the day before that was doing the rounds in the office but I was satisfied with my time, all things considered, I have to say it wasn’t easy!”
His solution was strap his ironing board and iron to his back while attached to his leg was a rotary washing line pegged with a t-shirt for each generous sponsor – Emma Ball Ltd, The Little Dog Laughed, Easy Logistics, The Giftware Association, Enveco, and Rachel Ellen Designs – as well as Pancreatic Cancer UK, the charity he and Rachel were both supporting following her father’s diagnosis with the disease.
“Some people I knew around the course said I’d got the biggest cheer of the day,” Paul added, “and it certainly felt like it. It was amazing, almost deafening in places and very humbling, I’ll never forget it. I was interviewed by the BBC as well, I certainly got noticed!”
And there were pictures on national newspaper websites including The Mail – which said he had the day’s most cumbersome costume – and The Daily Mirror, ensuring a good shout-out too for Pancreatic Cancer UK, which works towards better awareness, and early diagnosis of the condition that has the highest mortality rate of all the major cancers, as well as funding work on more effective treatments.
Following a final long training run with Paul on Friday, 30 September, along the River Trent in the company’s home city of Nottingham, Rachel was particularly pleased as her time was at the lower end of what she hoped to achieve, while Mark just tipped over his four-hour target.
And their finishing places among the 42,000 participants weren’t too shabby, with Rachel coming in 17,563 overall and an impressive 284th in her age 55-59 category, Mark was 13,903 overall and 1,824th in the 40-44 category, while Paul clocked up 34,635 overall and 1,509th in the 55-59 category.
Mark told PG Buzz: “I did it – it was such an amazing day. The crowds and atmosphere are something I’ve never experienced and it definitely makes you consider coming back despite it being one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
“I felt after my training and long runs that I was more than ready and the extra 5km I was yet to complete would be fine on the day but, oh boy, do you have to dig deep to get over that line. I didn’t quite make my target time but I genuinely couldn’t care less, I was just elated to have completed it!”
Thanking everyone for their support, Mark explained his fundraising is supporting Shooting Stars Children’s Hospice, which he described as: “The most amazing charity. The work they do is invaluable. After speaking with other runners who have had first-hand experience of the work they do, with stories that make you grab your young ones, hold them tight and realise how lucky you are, you see even more so, how important what they do is.”
The fundraising pages are still open with Rachel, Paul, and Mark very grateful for any support so please do click on their names to follow the links to donate.
Top: There was no mistaking the greetings industry’s presence at the televised race start
