Heli-skier in Marathon fund-raising attempt
From heart-stopping heli-skiing to mighty marathons, Paul Callingham is a businessman who likes to hit the ground running.
Now the 50-year-old company director from Bourne End near Maidenhead is in training for the Flora London Marathon, and is well on the way to raising up to £10,000 for the national Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC).
“It’s a charity that is very dear to my heart,” he explained. “I have friends who have this horrible disease, so I am hoping to raise as much money as possible and would love the support of local people in order to help this well-established charity deliver much-needed advice, information and counselling to people with this debilitating illness.”
Paul took up running with his 25-year-old daughter Pippa, a local PE teacher, in order to keep fit for his heli-skiing, a hobby he took up five years ago after spending the previous 30 years on piste in the Alps. This involves landing a helicopter on the top of a mountain in the Canadian wilderness, and skiing with a group of friends in up to 3 metres of powder through challenging terrain and dense pine forests, descending over 120,000 vertical feet in a week in temperatures as low as -40C!
Along with regular trips to the gym and running up to 30 miles a week, he is now on a high carbohydrate diet in preparation for the 26.2 mile run through the streets of the capital on April 26th. He can be regularly seen pounding the Thames towpath with his fellow runner pals, the ‘Spade Oak Spankers’. He is hoping to complete the course – the first time he has ever run a marathon – in about four hours, although his first test will be with Pippa and friends in running the Reading half-marathon on March 29th, which he first ran in 2007, raising over £6,000 for Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
Paul, who is the Managing Director of the Starboard Hotel group, will be running alongside friends for the London Marathon and will be part of the 107-strong MSRC team hoping collectively to beat last year’s target of £328,000.
MSRC Chief Executive Helen Yates said: “It is thanks to people like Paul and those who give so generously that we are able to do such an amazing job in helping people with MS. I would urge anyone who is looking for a charity to support for this year’s London Marathon to consider sponsoring Paul; the more we can raise, the more we can do to help people and their families who are affected by MS.”
Anyone wishing to donate can do so via the Just Giving website: http://www.justgiving.com/paulcallingham. For further information on the MSRC, please visit www.msrc.co.uk
Photo shows: Paul Callingham in training
For further information, please contact Karen Ainley, Mosaic Publicity (01206) 548100
