Googlers run a marathon ‘on the spot’ in aid of Invictus Games Foundation

Googlers Huw Morgan and Nick Ralston recently ran a marathon ‘on the spot’ to raise funds for the Invictus Games Foundation. Former British Royal Marine Commando Officer Huw, and former US Marine Corps Officer Nick ran a marathon this August (by jogging 35,000 steps ‘on the spot’) at their homes.

As veterans, Huw and Nick identified that the sense of uncertainty, restriction and sense of loss of control that was being felt by many during the pandemic was similar to dealing with military deployments. Huw and Nick wanted to demonstrate that you can take control of the situation no matter how dire it may appear to be. They also wanted to give back and help in a fun way by creating a distraction from many of the groundhog day routines that have settled in.

Restricting themselves to running in the same spot for a Marathon seemed like a great way to do it!

They were joined by many fellow ‘Googlers’ and members of the Google Veteran community across the globe who joined in the video call, some ‘zwifting’ whilst others ran, some sent words of encouragement and cheered, one Googler dialled-in whilst running on the Pembrokeshire coastline under gale force conditions, and some even painted during the event! 

The Invictus Games Foundation team, Jenni Anderson, Development Director and Dominic Reid, CEO, offered their kind words and gave them much needed motivation after providing those on the live stream the background to the Foundation and how the concept of the Games and the charity came into being.

Huw and Nick completed the Marathon in 3hrs 43min 51secs and have raised just over £5600 for the Foundation!

There were some tight calves and hips post the event, but they assured us that they remained unbroken and undefeated…

Jenni Anderson, Development Director said: Thank you to Huw and Nick on taking on this unique challenge and raising funds for the Invictus Games Foundation. It was a great demonstration of the Invictus Spirit as they took on running on the spot for over three hours! It was a very creative way to raise awareness of the challenges all of us have faced this year and pleased to see so many friends and family supporting them, virtually, on the day.

If you would like to fundraise in aid of the Invictus Games Foundation, you can set up your fundraising page here or be inspired by some of the other efforts undertaken by supporters! Head to justgiving.com/invictusgamesfoundation where you can also donate directly.