This article is more than 2 years old
"I can't not mark this event": Emma celebrates 20th anniversary of first marathon
Taking place yesterday, on 21 April 2024, 20 years after Emma’s first marathon, the event consisted of 34 teams of four taking part in 10.5km loops (making up the length of a full marathon between them), with a total of 136 runners. So far, participants have raised over £44,000, far exceeding the original £20k target.
The team marathon idea came from Emma’s desire to mark the 20th anniversary of when she first ran the London Marathon. She was 23 at the time and ran alongside her best friend, raising £20k for Cystic Fibrosis Trust, but thought she could have got a better time. Ten years after that in 2014, the pair ran it again, and Emma raised £21k, and thought she had put running marathons behind her.
Now 43, Emma said, “2024 came round, and I thought, ‘I can’t not mark this event’, but I knew I wasn’t up to running a marathon, and I couldn’t do it without my best friend. I got a small group of friends together as a committee and have had even more teams than we thought possible apply. It’s been a lot of work, but I’m so proud of everything we’ve achieved and how much we’ve raised for Cystic Fibrosis Trust.”
We’re incredibly grateful for the amazing fundraising Emma has done over the last 20 years and through this event. Our amazing fundraisers are the reason Cystic Fibrosis Trust can keep doing the important work that we do, and we wish everyone doing the Tichborne Team Marathon good luck!
Anne Shinkwin, Director of Fundraising at Cystic Fibrosis Trust
Since Emma’s last two marathons, she has started taking Kaftrio, and noticed a big difference. 
Emma said: “I started Kaftrio in September 2020, two weeks before my 40th birthday and it has changed my life. It’s extraordinary. I’ve always been quite fit, I’ve been a sports teacher for 20 years and I’m also now a mother, but life was always quite tough with CF.
"I was always worried about catching colds, I had a permanent cough, and was doing lots of IVs but Kaftrio has changed all of that. You can live with a disease for 40 years, and sometimes me and my family can forget I have CF. It doesn’t let you always forget and that’s the reality of CF – it’s made my tummy much harder to manage. But as a mother it’s given me so much freedom. My boy, Monty, was four when I started taking it and he doesn’t remember me as I was before. It’s gifted me his childhood, and for that I can only be grateful.”
To support the Tichborne Team Marathon, you can visit their JustGiving page here