Seth Cayley ran the Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 18 minutes last week in aid of Riverside Counselling and has raised over £1,000 for our charity.
Seth has been running since his late 20s and he has already completed 4 out of the 6 World Marathon Majors (London, Berlin, New York and Chicago). Seth said, “I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself, as well as feeling good and managing stress and my mental health. I try and run at least one marathon a year, I only have Tokyo to complete in the Marathon Majors now. Boston is the world’s oldest marathon (it’s been going since 1896) and very difficult to get into. You need a fast time (around 3 hours for my age category) to qualify, which I did in 2020… but then my place was scuppered by the Covid pandemic. It’s taken me a few years to get back to that level again!”
The Boston course is challenging and the weather was much hotter than the UK. The course is a straight line from outlying towns for 25 miles. Seth explained, “I wasn’t used to heat, given the recent UK weather. Lots of people struggled in the heat on the day. The hills are also famously difficult; while you can do your research beforehand, actually running them is quite another thing. One of them is called Heartbreak Hill for a reason!”
“One of the best parts is when you start to hear the finish line crowds before you make the final turns, and then you see them as you run towards the finish line on Boyleston Street. The worst part was the 6th mile when I realised I didn’t feel quite right – which is pretty early for things to be going wrong in a marathon – but knew I had to push on for another 20 miles! I kept Riverside and my sponsors in mind to help me keep going.”
Riverside is delighted that Seth chose our charity to raise money for. Seth said, “I chose Riverside Counselling Service because my wife volunteers there and is passionate about the service they provide. I support a lot of national charities but for this event I wanted to help an organisation local to our community.” You can still donate to Seth’s Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/page/seth-cayley-runningriverside
If you are planning to run, swim, ride, walk or something else this year, we’d love to be your chosen charity. Please get in touch at
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