Sarah Marzaioli lives in Hastings and has been running since her early 50s to raise funds for various charities. Her most recent ended in Rye Harbour, and was for the RNLI.
“My family and I love sea swimming and it is great to live in a seaside town. However, the sea can be so changeable and dangerous and I am totally in awe of the bravery, dedication and determination of the wonderful volunteer crew and organization that make-up the RNLI,” said Sarah.
Sarah has run 101 marathons, the last being last Sunday, October 3 , starting from RNLI Eastbourne and finishing to a warm welcome at RNLI Rye Harbour and she has raised nearly £1,000 for the RNLI from this marathon alone. She has completed marathons in London, Vancouver, Paris, Rome, Naples, Istanbul and New York to name but a few – and she has run in 15 London marathons and her 100th was to raise funds for the RNLI.
In 2018 she received the BEM in the Queen’s birthday honours list for her services to Speech and Language Therapy. In the 1990s Sarah began painting and printmaking and her inspiration for her work comes from her running in the beautiful Sussex and Kent countryside and her one-hundred and two year-old mother’s childhood memories.
Sarah began running in order to get fit enough to conquer the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu to raise funds for Barnardo’s. Someone suggested that she join a local running group, which she did (Hastings Runners) and she found running uplifting and the camaraderie of her fellow runners supportive in her quest to get fit. Today she ran with some of her running group including Terry Kitson, who ran from Hastings to Rye Harbour with her. Cherry and Colin kept her going with water and jelly babies en route.
When Sarah arrived at RNLI Rye Harbour she was overwhelmed with the turnout from the crew; she thought it was amazing. Also there to greet her at the end were her two daughters, Maria and Gemma, and friends including Irene. The crew stopped their training for a few minutes to make sure that Sarah got the welcome she deserved.
Paul Bolton, lifeboat operations manager, greeted her warmly and congratulated her on behalf of our station and all of the RNLI. He commented, “In these difficult times of Covid-19 it is wonderful to have the support of people like Sarah who literally go the extra mile in order to raise much needed funds for the charity that saves lives at sea. Thank you from all of us and to our dedicated crew who are out training in all weathers.”
You can support Sarah’s fundraising here.
Image Credits: kt bruce .