West End performer brings London Marathon to Saltdean garden

Craig, 41, had initially arranged to run the 2020 London Marathon then cycle back to Brighton and, finally, perform a concert on Saltdean beach.

The performer has starred in West End shows such as Blood Brothers, The Mousetrap and Scrooge, planned the event with his actor friend, Richard Munday (Blood Brothers, Phantom Of The Opera, Jesus Christ Super star) and Paul Eccles, who now lives and works in New York but was a member of Brighton Theatre Group years ago. They had all secured places in the marathon and were planning on a tandem cycle ride from London to Brighton straight after they’d run the marathon. The concert on the beach was to feature West End musical theatre

classics, all to raise money for the children’s cancer charity, CLIC Sargent.

No stranger to running for charity, Craig woke up on Sunday morning, ate a cracker (with peanut butter) and put on his running vest. He had not planned to run that day and hadn’t even been training recently due to an ankle injury.

Inspired by the amazing Sussex weather (and his two daughters, Amelie and Autumn, egging him on) he made an impromptu decision to start running in his back garden and in classic Forrest Gump fashion, just kept going! His wife, Rebekah, began to live stream his efforts on the couple’s business social media, The Theatre Workshop, and soon more donations came flooding into the Just Giving pages that Craig and his running partners had originally set up for the London Marathon event.

His garden marathon efforts were all in aid of charity, CLIC Sargent, who care and support young people dealing with cancer. The charity is particularly important to Craig and The Theatre Workshop as they sadly lost one of their students, Bella Swann Collins to the disease last year. She was just 14 years old and is described by Craig and Rebekah as a brave, courageous, funny, kind, and gifted young performer and person.

Craig said: “We all miss Bella terribly, she was a well-loved member of our school. With everything that’s going on in the world right now it’s easy to forget that there are charities out there still working and supporting people in need, and they still need donations from the public. Everyone is feeling the strain of the lockdown, but if we can raise a few pennies to help, then it’s worth the effort of running a marathon in your back garden."

Craig and his two running partners raised more than £4000 before lockdown was announced and raised another £1000 reaching their £5000 target. Doing laps of his garden Craig did 26.2 miles in four hours and 18 minutes.

He has also been singing for his neighbours from his balcony in Saltdean after the NHS clap on Thursdays, with people enjoying from their gardens or in the street at a safe distance. With the sound system he’s set up, the performance can be heard across Saltdean.

For more information visit - www.justgiving.com/fundraising/londonmarathon202012345-richardmunday

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