“I ran the longest race of my life to support bereaved children”

“Jigsaw (South East) made a tremendous difference to a close family member 12 years ago. Having participated in some of the group activities, I was touched by the families’ stories we shared and always knew that the charity does a terrific job with limited financial means.”

Fabrice Gouttebroze’s experience of Jigsaw (South East’s) support led him to complete the Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday and fundraise for the child bereavement charity.

A keen River Thames skiff sculler, he had never run a marathon, so Fabrice followed a 16-week training programme to prepare to pound the German roads.

“My goal was to finish the race, injury free within my target time of 4 hours 15-25 minutes,” he said. “It was very tough between 20 and 23 miles. It was raining, it was cold and I was so tired, but there was no way I was going to give up having run for so long.”

The Thames Ditton based IT Director continued: “With less than three miles to go I pretended that it was merely a matter of running a short and easy jog to the finish line. It worked.”

Fabrice, 50, finished the race well within his goal, with a fabulous time of 4:21:31. He said: “I’d like to thank all of my supporters and hope they can help me achieve my fundraising target.”

You can donate to Fabrice’s Just Giving page and support Jigsaw (South East) here https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fabrice-gouttebroze