{"id":12799,"date":"2026-04-13T08:24:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/12799\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:24:46","slug":"collingham-man-to-take-on-london-marathon-myway-challenge-from-lincoln-to-collingham-on-his-70th-birthday-in-support-of-the-alzheimers-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/12799\/","title":{"rendered":"Collingham man to take on London Marathon MyWay challenge, from Lincoln to Collingham, on his 70th birthday in support of The Alzheimer\u2019s Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A \u2018complete novice\u2019 runner will be pushing himself out of his comfort zone by completing a marathon on his 70th birthday.<\/p>\n

Andrew McGill was born on April 26, 1956, and so coincidentally this year\u2019s London Marathon will fall as he turns 70 years old.<\/p>\n

Wanting to do something special, he decided he wanted to raise money for The Alzheimers Society and take part in London Marathon MyWay, meaning he can complete the 26.2 miles challenge in whichever way he chooses and wherever he wants.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill of Collingham who is going to walk\/run 26.2 miles in support of Alzheimer’s Society. Photo: David Dawson\/Iliffe Media<\/p>\n

Being a birthday challenge, Andrew will begin his journey at 6am at Lincoln Hospital, where he was born in 1956, before making his way to his home in Collingham to celebrate with friends and family.<\/p>\n

With a mix of walking and running, he will pass locations which have been important in his life, including his old schools, his mum\u2019s old house, and the graves of family members in Lincoln.<\/p>\n

Leaving the city, the route will then take him out into the Lincolnshire countryside, via Skellingthorpe, along nature trails and across Fledborough Viaduct to South Clifton, before making his way south into Nottinghamshire through Girton and Besthorpe, and eventually finishing the challenge with a circuit around Collingham.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill of Collingham who is going to walk\/run 26.2 miles in support of Alzheimer’s Society. Photo: David Dawson\/Iliffe Media<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time last year I don\u2019t think I could have walked ten miles, let alone 26.2,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is completely out of my comfort zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter in law got in to do the London Marathon with Bliss, a charity supporting premature babies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all went down to London, had a great time, and seeing all these people doing it really inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew applied through the ballot system but was unsuccessful and with charity places limited \u2014 only around 600 entries for over 6,000 applicants \u2014 Andrew decided he would do the challenge from home and support The Alzheimers Society in the process.<\/p>\n

The cause is one close to his heart as both Andrew\u2019s Grandma and mum lived with Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill has been training for his London Marathon MyWay challenge, in support of the Alzheimer’s Society, by taking part in Newark Parkruns. Photo: Submitted.<\/p>\n

Over the past few month he has committed himself to getting fit, completing a Couch to 5k programme, and hopes to inspire other older people to get active.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a complete novice,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve run in my adult life \u2014 the last time I was 16-years-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI signed up to Couch to 5k, and the first few weeks went alright, but you do very quickly realise how fundamentally unfit you are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bloody hard work, but I kept going. I persevered to the very end, as painful as it was, and I got through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no athlete, but I\u2019m showing pretty good improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill has been training for his London Marathon MyWay challenge, in support of the Alzheimer’s Society, by taking part in Newark Parkruns. Photo: Submitted.\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill will be taking on the London Marathon MyWay challenge, in support of the Alzheimer’s Society, on his 70th birthday. Photo: Submitted.<\/p>\n

As well as practice walks and runs around the village and parts of the route he will take on the day, Andrew has also been taking part in the Newark Parkrun every weekend.<\/p>\n

He has also had a lot of support from people around the village, with a little pestering, and is now recognised as \u201cthe marathon man\u201d while out and about.<\/p>\n

In fact, the support has been so strong that he has had to increase his fundraising target three times, surpassing \u00a3650 initially, then \u00a3900, and finally breezing by \u00a31,250 \u2014 the total now sits at over \u00a31,600 and counting.<\/p>\n

Anyone who wishes to donate can do so via his fundraising page: 2026tcslondonmarathonmyway.enthuse.com\/pf\/andrew-mcgill<\/p>\n

\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill has brewed a beer ‘Old Dribbler’ with Collingham-based The Cat Asylum, to be sold in support of his Alzheimer’s Society fundraiser. Photo: Submitted.\"Andrew\"AndrewAndrew McGill has brewed a beer ‘Old Dribbler’ with Collingham-based The Cat Asylum, to be sold in support of his Alzheimer’s Society fundraiser. Photo: Submitted.<\/p>\n

He has also been finding quirky ways to raise additional funds, including brewing his very own beer with the help of Collingham-based micro-brewery The Cat Asylum.<\/p>\n

Pints of the beer, dubbed \u2018Old Dribbler\u2019, will be sold in pubs around the village with \u00a31 from each sale going directly to the fundraiser, or a \u201c\u00a31 fine for drinking anything else\u201d Andrew Joked.<\/p>\n

Local taxi firm, Collingham Cars, have also volunteered to drop Andrew off at his starting point, and while ferry various friends and familiy members to points along the route to walk alongside him.<\/p>\n

Thanking everyone who had chipped in to support him, Andrew said: \u201cIt feels great.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these people who have really motivated me. I\u2019ve got to keep going because of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u2018complete novice\u2019 runner will be pushing himself out of his comfort zone by completing a marathon on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2298,529,27,3236,6054,1118],"class_list":{"0":"post-12799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-charity","9":"tag-human-interest","10":"tag-london","11":"tag-newark","12":"tag-quirky","13":"tag-syndicate"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116396446376011534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}