This April, 20 supporters and members of the Parenting Mental Health community rose to the challenge to complete the 13 mile London Landmarks Half Marathon 2022. Our participants, known collectively as #TeamPMH, travelled to London from all over the country, with one even flying in from Ireland!
The race started in the grandeur of Pall Mall, which connects St. James Street to Trafalgar Square. Despite 74,000 people entering the ballot for this year’s event, all 20 of #TeamPMH were awarded a coveted spot on the starting line with the 14,000 participants in this year’s event.
Thankfully the team were blessed with sunny and dry weather as they made their way past some of London’s most iconic buildings and landmarks. In fact, this is the only London marathon which passes through the City of Westminster.
The team made their way past historic buildings such as the Tower of London and the Bank of England, contrasting with some of the more modern buildings on the capital’s skyline such as the Shard, the Cheese Grater and the Gherkin.
PMH Treasurer, Sue Flesher, along with supporters from the PMH community set up an incredible ‘cheer station’ in a prime spot along the Embankment. From here they were able to support, cheer and refuel the team.
Sue said, “Manning the cheerleading stand for the 2nd year in a row for Parenting Mental Health was another amazing experience. It was an honour to cheer on our PMH Team and the thousands of other runners all raising money for worthy causes. Our #TEAMPMH were truly awesome, many of whom are in the PMH community and being able to overcome the challenges to attend the event, let alone taking on the challenging 13.1 mile route and raising funds for a community and charity that has had the opportunity to support them is inspiring. So many friendships have been formed by this event, seeing the love, support, understanding and compassion shown between our team members has made me realise that this event is not just about fundraising, but allows important in person connections to be made that will hopefully last for many years. It was an incredible day, full of smiles, encouragement, cheering, hugs, congratulations, grit, determination, compassion, support and positivity. I can not wait to do it all again next year!”
After crossing the Thames the runners and walkers made their way past the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and were then rewarded with a stately finish at Whitehall and Downing Street.
#TeamPMH were a diverse group this year. Some were seasoned runners, this being a fantastic medal to add to their collection, some were very new to event running having only completed their first half marathon months before, and other members of the team had little or no running experience, and completed the 13 mile course by walking it. All team members gave it everything they had.
#TeamPMH member Jill said, “Running LLHM was the most amazing experience of my life. I couldn’t have asked for a better support network from PMH during the lead up to the marathon and the Team that took part have become friends. The day was superb and as a non runner the atmosphere made me run some of it putting in a personal best since my last attempt at something similar. Seeing the cheer station near the end was a wonderful boost. I can’t wait to do it again.”
If you are interested in participating in the London Landmarks Half Marathon in 2023 or attending as a #TeamPMH supporter, please email events@parentingmentalhealth.com
