Worthing charity boss to run virtual London Marathon for second time this year

The boss of a Worthing charity is doubling his efforts in the London Marathon, having taken up running only last year, ahead of his 50th birthday.
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Bob Chambers, chief executive of Feba, says he has never been particularly sporty and in fact protested for many years that he had a ‘dodgy knee’.

He started at the age of 48 with the weekly 5k parkrun at the beginning of 2019, then added an occasional midweek run, which stretched to 10km by mid-April and jumped to 20km by the end of the month. He ran his first official half marathon in May 2019 and that got him thinking.

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Bob said: “I’ve always thought it would be a tremendous sense of achievement to complete a marathon but never really believed I’d be capable of doing it.

Bob Chamber, chief executive of Feba. Picture: Derek Martin D15041071aBob Chamber, chief executive of Feba. Picture: Derek Martin D15041071a
Bob Chamber, chief executive of Feba. Picture: Derek Martin D15041071a

“I started running only last year, having never been particularly sporty in my youth.”

He is raising money for his Worthing-based charity, a Christian mission agency focused on the creative use of radio and other audio media.

Bob explained: “Working with partners across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including some of the world’s most difficult places to be a Christian, the aim is to engage with listeners and share with them something of the unique message of God’s love.

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“The London Marathon is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020 and I’ll be marking my 50th birthday at the end of the year, but we’re trumped by Feba’s remarkable 60 years of ministry. This seemed an ideal opportunity to do something special as a fundraiser and the three milestones formed the basis of my ambitious fundraising target.”

Bob was on track for the original date of April 26 and when the London Marathon was postponed, he decided to go ahead with a marathon distance on the original date, on a route he named the Arun to Adur Marathon.

When the organisers announced in August the London Marathon could not take place this year, Bob was obviously disappointed, but now it has become a virtual marathon on Sunday, October 4, he has decided to run the 26.2 miles all over again.

Bob said: “I’m thankful that I’ve already been able to complete the distance and have thereby honoured my pledge and have justified everyone’s generous sponsorship to date but now I’m about to do it all again.”

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He has raised nearly £5,000 so far. Visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BobChambers to make a donation.

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