Beverley Businesswoman Hopes to Raise £26,385

Beverley businesswoman and first time marathon runner and member of Beverley Athletic Club Claire Burcham hopes to raise £26,385 for charity.

A Beverley businesswoman has embarked on a mammoth fund raising effort to collect £26,385 for the charity DebRA by running the London Marathon.

Claire Burcham, from Beverley based Thrive Coaching, will be running the London Marathon for the first time in April 2010 and explains where the random target figure came from;

“A marathon is 26 miles 385 yards and so I decided to take up the challenge of raising £26,385 by finding 26,385 people to donate just £1 each! Unfortunately I don’t have 26,385 friends so am asking all of my business contacts, friends, relatives and family to spread the word amongst their contacts in the hope that we can reach this amazing and symbolic figure.”

Claire’s fund raising efforts were kick-started with a £1 donation by East Yorkshire designer and TV personality Linda Barker (pictured).

Claire was first made aware of DebRA when she saw the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Boy whose skin fell off’. After watching the programme about Jonny Kennedy’s personal journey she felt compelled to support DebRA and the work it does to help people affected by the genetic skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).

Claire is now looking to spread the word about her challenge to her local community and beyond in order to reach her fundraising target. She wants to encourage everybody to get involved and donate only £1 to help raise funds for research into this awful condition.  Claire is following in the footsteps of Hull man Graham Boanas who raised £119,000 by walking across the River Humber and the River Mersey in 2006.

You can follow Claire’s progress and to get updates on her training and fundraising efforts by reading her regularly updated blog and if you can spare a £1, you can donate easily and securely by visiting  here.

Photograph Submitted – Claire Burcham receives £1 from Linda Barker