Runner takes on challenge for his mum

A KEEN runner is on the home stretch of completing an endurance challenge for a cause very close to his heart.

Antony Kerridge, from Eastney, has spent 2016 trying to run 12 marathons in 12 months, to raise money for his mum Rachel, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

This weekend he’s tackling two of the runs on consecutive days, before rounding the challenge off at the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon next month. The 33-year-old said: ‘I’ve been running for the past 10 years after the Solent MS Therapy Centre in Portsmouth managed to get me a place on the Great South Run in 2005.

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‘They’ve been kind enough to get me into the London Marathon four times, which is great because I’ve heard that it’s hard enough to get into it just once.’

Rachel requires round-the-clock care after being diagnosed with MS iKindn 1994.

The neurological condition means that her right arm is now her only working limb.

After Rachel’s husband Ian quit his job to become her full-time carer, Antony and his younger brother Shaun were inspired to set up The Rachel Kerridge Trust last year.

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As well as offering their parents financial support, the brothers, alongside trustees Gemma Kerridge and Jemma Oakes, also raise money for the Solent MS Therapy Centre and Cancer Research UK.

‘I knew that taking on this challenge would be something I would need to train for the whole year for, and it would be enough of a challenge but something that I could still take on’, Antony says.

He admits that he is facing his toughest test this weekend with the back-to-back marathons as part of The Druids Challenge in Berkshire.

The Rachel Kerridge Trust has raised £3,800 this year. The money will go towards a new specially-designed vehicle for Rachel and Ian, as well as the trust’s beneficiaries.

To donate, go to rachelkerridgetrust.com

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