Marathon Man
Over 38,000 runners took part in the 2015 London marathon and it would be safe to assume all would have welcomed the sight of the finishing line on the Mall. Well perhaps not all. For 41 year old James Rudolf, the London Marathon was just the start. He had another 159 miles to run to get back home to Cardiff… in just six days. That’s the equivalent of running six marathons in as many days. On the Monday, he ran the 31.68 mile journey from the Mall to Maidenhead; Tuesday saw him complete 34.79 miles to Wantage; Wednesday was the longest leg, 34.79 miles to Malmesbury; then just 30.33 miles on Thursday to Chepstow; and finally a mere 27.34 miles to Cardiff on the Friday.
Mr Rudolf had set himself such a tough challenge, not because he missed his train home, but to raise money for Latch, a charity which helped his five year old son Oscar after he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. As you would expect, there were many hard moments during his epic journey from London to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, but when he needed inspiration to get him through, the father of four just thought of his very own hero, Oscar. It was in 2014 that Oscar was diagnosed with the rare soft tissue cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma. The five year old needed chemotherapy as well as proton radiotherapy treatment in Florida. Latch paid for all of Oscar’s family to join him in the USA and also provided support in many other ways. Now thanks to his herculean efforts, it was Mr Rudolf’s chance to give something back to the charity in the form of the £53,000 his run had raised. As for Oscar, he is now back at school. A family of heroes.