New dad takes on ambitious challenge to support Dogs for Good charity

When dog lover James Wood, aged 35, signed up to run the Brighton Marathon for Banbury-based charity Dogs for Good last April, he never thought one marathon would become two.

But when the same charity offered him a place to run in the London Marathon too – held just two weeks after Brighton - he simply couldn’t refuse. 

He also hadn’t anticipated training with a new-born baby at home, after his son, Bobby, was born on Christmas Day.

As the owner of two dogs, James chose to pledge any funds raised to Dogs for Good, who specialise in training assistance dogs to help make life-changing differences for people living with disabilities.

Mr Wood enjoys running around Fairford with his dog Ronnie and felt passionate about supporting the independent charity when he heard about them online.

Mr Wood with his dog Ronnie (Image: James Wood)

He recently visited staff at the training centre in Banbury and met some of the people who the charity match animals to.

The novice marathon runner said: “Doing both marathons was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“My wife ran the London Marathon last year which inspired me to complete one myself.

"I quickly signed up to the Brighton Marathon thinking it would be too hard to get a place in London and was eager to focus on a new fitness goal.

“When I signed up, we didn’t know we were expecting our first child, and certainly didn’t anticipate our son, Bobby, being born on Christmas Day – which slightly put a bump in the training! 

"Despite a few broken nights, I’ve managed to keep my training going and have hit the 16-mile mark so far."

Tina Williams, regional and events fundraiser at Dogs for Good, said: “We are so happy that James has chosen to run for us and very grateful that James is running two marathons for us and raising much needed funds. 

"We wish him lots of luck for both events and will be cheering him on!”

To sponsor James visit tinyurl.com/3ymffcpy