WMWI Walton Manor WI

Pauline Bampton of Walton Manor WI tells us about her challenge of  running in the 2007 London Marathon

'Hello OFWI, I’m Pauline Bampton and a member of Walton Manor WI. 

I am 35 and married, with 2 children Emily 9 and William 6. I enjoy working part-time in finance for Oxfordshire County Council, so as you can imagine I don't have an awful lot of time for me!

I took up running with a neighbour about five years ago and really enjoyed it. It didn't cost anything and I could fit into my week, quite easily. My neighbour and I started to take part in 10k runs around Oxford.  Then unfortunately we both suffered injuries, so sadly our running had to stop. Then last April, we decided o start running again and take part in more 10k runs.  We were feeling really fit and motivated, so decided to apply for the London Marathon for 2007.  The London Marathon attracts approximately 36,000 runners each year and the majority of these places are filled by charity runners (about 75%). We were not surprised that we didn't get a place through the ballot so as we were both really keen to run we decided we would go down the charity route too and were both accepted as Gold Bond runners.

I'm running for a charity called I.M.P.S. (Injury Minimisation Programme for Schools).  I need to raise £1,500, so I've set up a Justgiving website, which allows people to find out more about the charity and donate online; I've included the address below if you'd like to find out more.

www.justgiving.com/paulinebampton

Well my training is going really well and the donations are steadily coming in. My longest run to date has been 18.5 miles, so I'm well on track. Thanks you OFWI for taking an interest and for your support’.

Pauline Bampton Member of Walton Manor WI Oxford