New Mills father and son raise thousands for Alzheimer's Society with London Marathon run

Civil servant David Reed-Laing, now 66, wanted to do something memorable to mark his milestone year but was surprised when son Josh, 34, agreed to run too.

David said: “I’d been stuck indoors through the lockdowns, and thought it would be a good way to whip my body back into shape and maybe inspire Josh to do the same.

“I used to race middle distances but I last tried to run a marathon before he was born. It was in Sheffield in high summer heat and a bit of a disaster, so I didn’t think I’d ever do another one. But when I mentioned London to Josh, he thought it was a great idea.”

They secured their place in the world-famous race as part of the the Alzheimer’s Society fundraising team, a charity close to their hearts.

David said: “As a family we’ve been touched by Alzheimer’s three times – both of Josh’s grandads and his grandma. It was the obvious choice to give something back.

“Myself and my brother took up the charity’s offer of counselling when our father was going through a particularly difficult time. It really helped the family. You hear a lot about people with dementia who no longer recognise their children, but the other side of that is seeing the parent become somebody completely different.”

David and Josh were themselves transformed over a year of training runs up and down the Peaks in all weathers, but progress was not always straightforward.

David said: “I got a couple of serious viral infections and suffered injuries to my hamstrings and around my pelvis which brought training to a complete halt. I did manage a run in the Sahara though, on holiday in Morocco. That was good fun.”

The pair persevered until excitement took over on Sunday, October 2, as they lined up with 40,000 other runners.

David said: “After months of running alone, to suddenly be among people from all over the world, all with similar stories of training through hardships, was a really amazing thing to experience.”

But disaster struck around mile five as one of David’s training injuries flared up, he said: “I tore my hamstring and was in excruciating pain. The sensible thing would have been to drop out, instead I decided to take some painkillers and carry on.

“It was rather humiliating to be overtaken by an inflatable unicorn – funny but annoying – but I managed to catch it up again at mile 22.”

Josh reached the finish around 20 minutes ahead of David, both around the five-hour mark, but the number that means the most is the £2,600 raised.

David said: “I know the Alzheimer’s Society has supported some new research which looks like an enormous breakthrough in treatment and prevention, but on a more down-to-earth level it costs around £10 to provide an hour of counselling, so we’ve paid for quite a lot of those.

“Josh has put his name down to run the marathon again in April, he found it so exciting. So I’ve signed up too. I couldn’t let him get one over on me.”

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