TCS London Marathon: the To The End Team look back

Amazing. To be honest, I've never done anything like this before. If you had asked me to run, I probably wouldn’t because I'm not really a fit person attending the gym. But being together as a four, in the To The End Team, representing each nation, staying together and walking the whole length of marathon, it's a completely different thing. It was a huge achievement.

Everyone had their own personal mobile phone on them. So taking videos and photographs along the route. Photographing the mile markers, like the first mile, thinking ‘oh my goodness, it's such a long way to go’. Anyway, I thought, keep on going, taking the photos and videos and eating, drinking along the way.

I remember the 25th mile, which was obviously on the home stretch. I missed the 26th because it was just loads of crowd and people cheering on the straight by St. James's Park. Then you go around the corner, you've got this big walkway built above the whole track, just before Buckingham Palace on the left. I remember that and I just looked and thought, ‘385 yards to go, we are home now.’

Oh, my goodness, the crowds… if the runners had their name on the front of their running top, they would cheer their name. That was something again, amazing. And there would be families, members of the public saying, ‘oh, I've seen you on the telly this morning, keep on going.’

It got me thinking, on the day when we went to pick up our bib numbers and register, we were all on the train and we got talking. Then we were; ‘Right, okay, to the end team. So, are we staying at the marathon to the end? Till, whatever time?’ I think it was midnight the last person went past the finish line. It would have been quite a difficult one, reserving your energy.

Funnily enough, once you've finished the marathon, in the beginning of May, the London Marathon sends you an email, asking if you wanted to take part in next year’s marathon. I've signed up because once we finished the marathon, I've asked everybody else in the group, I said ‘I think we need to do it next year’. And they all looked at me thinking, ‘I'm going to give it a pass.’

Once I received an e-mail, I figured, right, okay. I’ll ask my wife, ‘What do you think about that?’ And I've signed up to a ballot. Obviously, again, I could be one of the people who may get a place or may not.

The hospitality area! It was quite a surprise to all of us. You can have hot drinks, cold drinks, energy bars, you name it. Loads of sofas to sit down, relax, stretch. Loads of VIPs. Sebastian Vettel, ex- Formula One driver. Daddy Pig with Joe Wicks, his personal trainer and coach.

We were walking towards the start line and we saw the singer, Alexander Burke. She was just walking past us and said, ‘good luck, guys’.

I think the legacy of us as a nursing team taking part and working together was so important. But I've realised that obviously any fundraising you do, is great. You can stand in a supermarket and collect… if you’re a volunteer, it's great. And if as a staff member, you have your uniform on standing right next to them, it makes a huge impact.

Doing the marathon, I've realised you cannot do one without the other. To bring more impact, significant impact, and to fundraise too, brings success.

I'm feeling all right, to be fair. It was just an amazing day. It really was. I’m two toenails down, though. I thought I'd only lose one, but I lost two.

I felt quite confident, considering the day before I was quite nervous, thinking, 'Oh, it's tomorrow’ and I didn't sleep great, which I knew I wouldn't anyway. I don't think anyone who did it would’ve slept well, because of the nerves and excitement.

I woke up and met the team. We had some breakfast and then went over on the tube. We arrived at Greenwich, about eight o'clock and I walked up to the privileged tent. That was amazing.

I think we started at 9.30. They got a really good picture of us starting, because we literally, walked over the start line with just the four of us. That was really good.

Everyone was so lovely. The Marathon brings the best out of Londoners, because obviously I'm from London… and I think we get a bit of a bad deal, like, ‘Oh, they haven't got time to speak to you’. That day, everyone's happy and joyful, and I think everyone needs that, don’t they?

The weather was so nice. We saw people having barbecues and children playing on little blankets. Because were on telly at the start, the kids were going, ‘Mum, they're the nurses, they're on TV’.

Yes, at mile 23. Because obviously we had to finish before they closed the main finish line.

If I go anywhere, I'd rather run, swim or bike than walk. So that on its own was a challenge for me. And the team, why I say that was so good, because what I was saying to them, go ahead, because they’re faster walkers than me, and it's harder when you're a faster walker and you're walking with someone slower, it's worse for them. Occasionally, I would jog to catch up.

It's beautiful, very heavy. I have about 75 medals from swims and runs, and I like a circular medal, this is so special. At the moment, it's under my TV. I'm redecorating my living room in a couple of months so I'm going to leave it where it is for now.

I think it'll always be remembered. People that have said to me, ‘I've donated and patients said, ‘I saw you on TV’. One patient I go into, she does a monthly donation to Marie Curie, and she donated 50 pounds to my JustGiving page. Bless her, she's ninety-one.

She's lovely. She said, ‘I've been doing it for 15 years.’ And I said, ‘That's really kind. Thank you.’ She said, ‘I'll keep paying each month.’ People appreciate Marie Curie and that we're needed. We are needed so much.

If you've been inspired by the To The End Team, you can apply for a Marie Curie charity place for the 2027 TCS London Marathon.

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