This Sunday’s TCS London Marathon will be an emotional as well as an exhausting occasion for Lothians’ sisters Jinty Russell and Heather McIntosh.
The siblings will be honouring the memory of parents Jessie and Eddie McIntosh, both victims of lung cancer – and raising funds for the Roy Castle Foundation along the way.
A target of £2200 has been set and by the beginning of race week they were more than two thirds of the way there.
It will be the second time they have undertaken the race and circumstances could not be more poignant.
Back in 2015 they raced in memory of dad watched by mum who herself died of lung cancer three years ago.
“Losing both Mum and Dad to lung cancer has been devastating” said Jinty, from Cammo and whose sister is Livingston-based, adding: “Raising funds and awareness for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation allows us to positively impact other families while allowing us the opportunity to create amazing memories in honour of our parents.
“Many of our family and friends have told us that we inspire them, but we couldn’t do what we do without their unwavering support. It’s this support that drives our sense of purpose, knowing we’re making a difference no matter how small.”
“We’re so excited to have been allocated to the same start line. The last time we were separated across the Blue and Red starts so we had to coordinate a meeting at the mile 4 water station.
“It’s the greatest feeling spotting each other in the sea of runners but the wait is an anxious one.
“Training has mostly gone to plan.
“However, the reason they call it training is so you can learn from any mishaps ahead of the event. This time around training has taught us, don’t pull your flask out by the lid, it will come off and you will get soaked! Put your flask away securely otherwise you will lose it, and always lift your feet over the pavements!
“Our bodies feel nine years older than the last time, so we’ve spent more time on strength training and flexibility for injury prevention for this year’s marathon. The first time we ran the London Marathon in 2015 we didn’t fuel correctly, we ran solely on water and a small amount of Lucozade.
“The best part of training for ‘The Wall’, the 70-mile Ultra Marathon that we ran in 2021, was understanding how to fuel our bodies to be able to sustain hours of running which has massively helped our training.”
“We’re looking forward to seeing other Roy’s Runners along the way; the 2024 team have been amazing at supporting each other throughout our individual journeys to the start line, and we can’t wait to hear everyone’s success stories. Most of all we’re looking forward to seeing our cheer squad.”
“We have so much respect for runners who undertake these challenges solo, it takes mental grit. We’ve completed all our long training runs together, and we’re lucky that our pace is fairly evenly matched. We’ve completed mid-week runs solo only to then discover that, on quite a few occasions, our pace has been exact, to the second!
“We completed London previously in 4hrs 46 minutes, we’d love to come close to that again. We both say we’re not chasing a time but if we see the finish line at 4 hrs 45 minutes we will probably try to sprint lol!”
To support Jinty and Heather’s tribute fund, visit https://jessie-eddie-mcintosh.muchloved.com/Fundraising/Events/676647951
Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com
