Neil’s Marathon for Macmillan
Meet Neil, who is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support by running the London Marathon. Neil first started running in 2021 around the Thornhill area and ran his first half marathon in Cardiff in 2023. Fast forward to 2026 (with 6 more half marathons under his belt!) Neil is now attempting the big one – the London Marathon! Knowing that he was going to need to up his game, Neil decided to take out a membership at Llanishen Leisure Centre to support his training.
‘As I am running the London marathon I decided I needed to vary my training regime to include interval training and weights, so I joined the leisure centre at the beginning of 2026. The gym gives me a chance to mix up my training and help focus on different areas that need strengthening. I also wanted to be able to swim and undertake more gentle exercise in the gym for active recovery. My daughter is 11 and has joined as a junior member, which means we can go to the adult and junior gym sessions together. I chose the leisure centre because I felt it was good value for money and offers great accessibility for me with their opening hours. So far, I’ve really enjoyed my training there and have found the staff to be friendly.’
In addition to this, Neil has also just completed the Llanelli half marathon in February and is taking part in the Newport 10km in April.
‘These two will form part of a wider training plan. It is going to be challenging with some difficult days and weeks, but knowing I am raising money to assist such a great charity is the added motivation I need.’
With all this preparation, we have no doubt that Neil is going to absolutely smash this challenge and we wish him the best of luck with the remainder of his training and for the big day on 26th April.
If you’d like to support Neil by donating, please follow this link to his JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/page/neilfrancismarathon?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=020
He’s also hosting a quiz night fundraiser (where does he fit it all in??) on 20th March at Cardiff Arms Park and is asking for raffle prize donations. If you’d like to donate, please email nafrancis@hotmail.co.uk