St Mary’s Students Support London Marathon

More than 70 students from St Mary’s University, Twickenham supported runners at this weekend’s Virgin Money London Marathon by offering free sports massages at the finish line. A contingent of students from St Mary’s undergraduate BSc Sports Rehabilitation course, Professional Short Course in Sports Massage, and the Foundation Course in Sport, Health and Fitness attended the famous race on Sunday 13th April to give free post-event sports massages to runners finishing the 26.2 mile course, which travels across London. St Mary’s has a long-standing relationship with the Virgin Money London Marathon and students have been supporting charities at the event for more than 11 years. It offers a unique opportunity for the students to volunteer their time to help good causes whilst developing their skills. This year the students supported runners from 13 charities including the Mo Farah Foundation, Mencap, Mind and Whizz Kids. St Mary’s Programme Director for Sport Rehabilitation Claire Mcloughlin commented, “This is an amazing opportunity for our students, to be involved in the London Marathon, providing a service to both runners and the charities. This is our biggest year to date with 70 students providing post event massage for 13 different charities. Students are always keen to be involved in such events, especially when it’s for charity and they really enjoyed the day.”