First time London Marathon for Katie

This has been a lifelong ambition for Katie and when she was offered a charity place by the school, she was delighted to accept. Katie, a keen runner, has always wanted to run the marathon and has been training hard for this long-awaited challenge

‘I have been running lots

I did an 18 miler at the weekend so I‘m feeling like I'm getting there. I‘m really excited for race day now.‘Katie chose The Mary Hare Foundation because she has always had a link to the work it does through her grandmother, Rosemary Sanders Rose who has been a Governor at the school for many years .

‘Mary Hare‘ said Rosemary, ‘gives young deaf children the best opportunities through their specialist education and the school also helps pupils to build their self-confidence enabling them to become independent young people

Pupils develop long-lasting friendships and have a better chance of succeeding in their life-long ambitions. I am very proud of my granddaughter taking on this challenge.‘Running challenges are always popular at Mary Hare, especially as their Ambassador, Pippa Middleton is a keen runner.Katie has set her supporters a little wager to donate and guess her running time

The winner will receive a bottle of champagne

‘I am so excited to be taking part in the marathon and all donations no matter how small will give me the much-needed motivation for my training and, of course, on the day.‘