Paul Cording, a roads policing sergeant with North Yorkshire Police, had no doubt about which charity to support when entering his first ever marathon.
“With my job, I am on the scene of quite a lot of fatal and life changing road traffic collisions and I see at first hand the amazing work the Yorkshire Air Ambulance do,” he said.
“I cover the whole of North Yorkshire which has 6,000 miles of road covering everything from very rural areas to major towns and coastal resorts and the air ambulance can get everywhere in such a short period of time.
“I see on a weekly basis the benefits the service brings in getting patients to major trauma centres within that first golden hour so they have the very best chance of survival and recovery.”
Paul, 45, is a regular hockey player rather than runner but completed the 26.2 miles in under five hours and would recommend the experience to everyone.
He added: “It was a really great day, and such a humbling experience. I have been just blown away by people’s generosity. I had an initial target of £500 and I’ve raised nearly £6,000 with Gift Aid which is just amazing.”
Yorkshire Air Ambulance serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,250 missions every year. It needs to raise £12,000 every day and has just replaced its two, ageing aircraft with brand new, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters.
Linda Stead, North Yorkshire Community Fundraiser for the rapid response emergency charity, said: “We work in very close partnership with all the emergency services and we are very grateful to Paul for his amazing achievement – not just in running 26miles but in raising so much money for us.”
Photo caption: North Yorkshire policeman Paul Cording presents his cheque from running the London Marathon to (from left) Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedic Pete Vallance, Pilot Capt Ian Mousette and paramedic Matt Syrat.
