Almost halfway: race five, Milton Keynes

(Left to right: Malcolm Lindley, Founder and Trustee of The Fine & Country Foundation, Emma Preston, Regional Manager of GPEA, Clint Nykamp, Partner from Fine & Country West Midlands, Sharon Lindley, Secretary for The Fine & Country Foundation)

“Seven laps of the same track has its pros and cons,” Clint Nykamp from Fine & Country West Midlands.

Emma Preston, Regional Manager for GPEA and Clint Nykamp successfully completed their fifth race in the 12 marathons challenge on Saturday 11th August. The route was a little different to previous races: seven laps around the same lake, but is this a good thing or not?

Click here to help Emma and Clint fight the causes of homelessness. 

Malcolm Lindley, Founder and Trustee of The Fine & Country Foundation said: “It was a real pleasure and a privilege for Sharon [Lindley] and I to go to support Clint and Emma, it really brought home to us the actual enormity of the challenge they have undertaken. To do a marathon is one thing, to undertake to do twelve is extraordinary. They deserve all the support and encouragement we, as the Fine & Country family, can muster.”

Emma Preston
Race time: 6 hours, 26 minutes

“It was great to see our supporters, Malcolm and Sharon Lindley and Sean Newman waving and cheering throughout the race. It was really motivating knowing that they had taken the time on their weekend to come and support us. 

“When I hit ‘the wall’ on the sixth lap, Malcolm and Sharon’s generous donation reminded me why I am doing this crazy challenge. I have given up 12 months of my life, plus four months beforehand to train, for an incredible cause: to support homeless and vulnerable people. I know that this will always keep me moving to pass every finish line.”

Clint Nykamp
Race time: 5 hours, 17 minutes

“Once you have completed the first lap of 3.7 miles you know what to expect, but at the same time each lap feels like a marathon in itself. On my 18th mile I hit ‘the wall’, but thankfully had my friend and colleague, Sean, to run with me for a whole lap.

“There were only 50 runners in the race, making Milton Keynes by far the smallest event for us. Despite this, it felt like there were hundreds of participants because of the constant flow of runners on the same small circuit.”

By comparison, the first race in Brighton in April had 12,000 runners. Find out more here.

“This marathon was full of seasoned runners, not the type of runners that are going for a super quick time, but extreme endurance runners. One of the guys I ran with was on his 62nd marathon for the year and another has run almost 800 races.

“So I took some advice from these runners and they were saying that the only thing I did wrong was start too quickly. They said that if you get out of breath in your first few miles you are running too quick. They reckon with a slower overall pace I could easily get my time under 5 hours which will be the aim for the next one.

“I want to say a big thank you to Sean as he came and ran the last four miles with me in his jeans, while on Facebook Live to drum up more support,” said Clint.

Sean Newman, Fine & Country Rugby said: "I was so proud to see Clint and Emma running on behalf of Fine & Country to raise money for the homeless. What they are doing is amazing and inspirational. This is a massive commitment and they have given up a great deal of their time to do these events and train for them. I know they were both in pain at times are pushing themselves physically and mentally. It was the least I could do to turn up and give them some support and pledge a small donation to this worthy cause.”

Next race:
Richmond, Sunday 16th September

Come and join Emma and Clint as the run the most iconic and beautiful race of the challenge: in Kew Gardens. The pair would love to see you cheering them on or donating to their incredible cause. Click here to donate.

For the full list of marathons, click here. Please email foundation@fineancountry.com for details on entry and location.

Emma said: “It was so lovely to have some support, it was really tough at times so having someone cheering us on made all the difference.”

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