Smoking kills around 6 times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents, other accidents, poisoning & overdose, murder & manslaughter, suicide & HIV infection COMBINED

BERMONDSEY MAN RUNS FIRST MARATHON FOR QUIT

 

After watching hundreds of people run past his Bermondsey home every April, Nigel Shardlow has finally decided to don his running shoes and join them in this year’s London Marathon.

The 43-year-old senior manager at SHM Consultants in Holborn will be running the marathon for UK stop smoking charity QUIT. This will be Nigel’s first road marathon – he has previously taken part in 26 mile courses in the Peak District. He said: “I have always been into running, and have always wanted to do the London Marathon, especially as the course loops round the area that I live in.”

Although Nigel has never been a smoker himself, he believes the work QUIT does in helping people to stop is important: “When I was younger, my mum was a smoker and she wanted to stop. There was nothing like the Quitline and the email counseling that QUIT offer, and it would have helped her a lot. It is a fantastic service.”

Money raised from the marathon will be used by QUIT to help support its youth service Quit Because.

Quit Because aims to help young people all ages make informed choices about tobacco use through lively and interactive presentations in schools and youth clubs. QUIT Because presentations include a fun ‘ingredients’ show, demonstrating some of the 4,000 chemicals found in a cigarette.

The Youth Presenters also offer support and advice to young people wanting to give up smoking.

Nigel said: “I think the youth programme does a great job. It’s at that age that the habit usually starts, and by educating youngsters, they have more of an opportunity to stop before it becomes a major habit.”

Nigel has been training in parks across London in his bid to run the course in under 4 hours. He said: “My sister Kerry finished the race in just over 4 hours, so I want to do better than her. Everyone is being supportive, and I am really looking forward to the day. The social aspect should be great and there is such a buzz around the day.”

Three other Londoners are also running for QUIT in this year’s marathon – Simon Dancer from Bow and bank colleagues Charlotte Hickey from Wandsworth and Anne Whyte from Balham.

To sponsor Nigel, visit his fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/NigelShardlow

QUIT is the UK independent charity that has helped over 2 million smokers. More details about QUIT are available on www.quit.org.uk. To date, presenters for QUIT Because have reached more than 1 million 8-18 year olds.  Quit Because desperately need more youth presenters across the UK, and donations will help our vital youth programme to reach even more young people

Press Office:

For all press enquiries, please call:

Glyn Mcintosh - Tel: 0207 469 0409 or 07958795199 Email: g.mcintosh@quit.org.uk
Nicola Orchard - Tel: 0207 469 0414 or 07508318069 Email: n.orchard@quit.org.uk

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