Megan and Katy from The Coalition team complete London Marathon!

We’re very proud to share that Megan and Katy from The Coalition team completed the London Marathon! Massive congratulations to them both and thank you for fundraising for The Coalition! Megan has shared with us her experience of the London Marathon and also about the fantastic accessibility at the event.

On Sunday 27th April I took part in the London Marathon alongside Katy who kindly agreed to be my support runner. I completed the entire 26.2 miles self-propelling in my manual wheelchair. I am also visually impaired (tunnel vision) and so Katy warned me about obstacles such as upcoming turns, potholes, and other hazards in the road.

Many of the roads were on a camber which meant that to keep myself straight I could only push with my left arm which was exhausting! Uphill sections were also quite challenging, but this was made up for on the downhill when I could rest a little.

The atmosphere was incredible and kept me pushing forward when things were tough. Our total finish time was 6 hours 51 minutes and 26 seconds, and our fundraising total for the coalition (including gift aid) was just over £2,000! I am over the moon with this result.

I was really impressed with the overall accessibility of the event. I received a guaranteed place as part of their Disability 200 project, which reserved 200 places for participants with a disability on a first come first served basis. I also received a free place for my support runner.

There was a dedicated access team who were there to answer questions and provide additional support to those who needed it on the day.

At the start line, we were able to wait in the access tent which had direct access to two mobile changing places toilets and around a dozen or so additional wheelchair accessible Portaloo’s. There were also accessible toilets at every even mile along the marathon route.

The thing that made the biggest difference to me was being able to reserve blue badge parking at the start and finish line so that I didn’t have the additional stress of navigating public transport, which will have been very busy! My fiancé was able to drop us off at the start line and then park the car so that it was there waiting at the finish. I had zero energy left at the end so being able to get straight in the car was invaluable.

There was also a sensory calm space at the finish line for anyone who needed to take a moment away from the crowds and noise, I thought this was a fantastic idea as it was all a tad overwhelming!

I am feeling very proud of myself for this achievement. When I first became a wheelchair user, I struggled to push myself to the local shops and back, so to have now completed an entire marathon shows just how far I’ve come, and I would absolutely do it again!