Roger Laing, a commissioned evangelist from St Paulinus Church, Crayford is currently training hard in his bid to complete the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 23rd April.

For Roger, who will be celebrating his 50th birthday shortly before the big race in the capital, it is his first ever marathon, but started his training over a year ago.

Roger, who is also a full-time police officer in the Metropolitan Police Service says, “I recognised that I needed to build up slowly so I started doing 5km park runs over the last year to lay a foundation on which I could start a marathon programme. My training consists of around three to four runs per week with the longest usually on a Sunday”

Roger who lives in Barnehurst with his wife and children will be raising money for his chosen charity Christian Aid. He said, “The work of the charity was at the heart of what Christianity was truly about, for when you see people around the world digging around in the dirt for food, or being left without any shelter following a major disaster, it is then that we need to examine our own compassion and humanity and ask ourselves, what we would do if it were our own families and friends in the same position? For as it will say on my running vest, ‘We can’t stand still while people go hungry, can you?’ "

Anyone who would like to support Roger’s effort can go to his ‘Just giving’ page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Roger-Laing

For any further details about the work that Christian Aid do, then please visit their website at www.christianaid.org.uk

Submitted by Roger Laing