Northamptonshire firefighter running London Marathon for charity and in memory of former colleague

Ronnie has been a firefighter for 18 years and this will be his fifth marathon in the capital.

Happy Like Hilmi will be on the helmet of the Wellingborough Green watch and Rushden firefighter Ronnie Sherratt.

It's in memory of the well loved Corby firefighter Hilmi Say who died from cancer at the end of 2023.

"I said, well, if you can go through what you've gone through, I'm sure I can run London with full fire Kit and ABA set on my back. And he said you'll do it no problem."

As well as running in the full kit which weighs upwards of 25kg. In his training so far a half marathon in kit has taken 3 hours, so Ronnie is hoping to get round the capitals course in 6 hours on Sunday 21st April.

His race will also be raising funds for brain injury charity Headway East Northants. They aims to provide a specialist service for people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). ABI is damage to the brain acquired after birth and usually affects cognitive, physical, emotional, social or independent functioning.

One of Ronnie's school friends has been helped greatly by Headway,

"He always had issues with certain things he had to do and going through life he's picked up with his charity and have helped him develop... He's now become a mentor and he's even learned to play the ukulele."

So far Ronnie has already raised nearly £2000 for the charity. He's hoping for mild weather on Sunday 21st. In Ronnie's words the kit he'll be wearing keeps the heat out, but also keeps the heat in!

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