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Top cop Kerry in Capital Adventure

Monday 19 April 2010

A Coventry man is set to take on the London Marathon after a charity helped change his niece’s life.

 

Kerry Blakeman, 43, has never entered a competitive run before but wanted to raise funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind after his niece, Katie Meakin, was helped massively by the charity.

 

Katie, who was born blind, had been house-bound for 24 years before a ‘reject’ guide dog, Theo, was retrained by the charity and brought up to the necessary standard.

 

Theo, who had originally been deemed not to be suitable as a guide dog, became a massive part of Katie’s life and their relationship was so strong that he was named Guide Dog of the Year in 2008.

 

Kerry, who is a Chief Inspector with West Midlands Police, now hopes to raise £2,000 for the charity by way of thanks.

 

He has already raised more than £1,500 and received the support of Xcel Leisure Centre on Mitchell Avenue, who gave him advice and access to their gym facilities to aid his training.

 

Kerry, who hopes to finish in under 4 hrs 30 mins, said: “Thanks to the fantastic work by Guide Dogs, Katie’s was able to go outside the house for the first time in 24 years and it’s been great for her.

 

“My motivation for the run was to thank them for their great work and try and give something back.

 

“I’ve never done anything like this before but it’s gone well and at my peak I’ve been doing 30 miles a week.

 

“I’m very grateful to Xcel for giving me the chance to use their gym. It was really helpful because of the weather we had over the winter, so I’ve been able to go in and keep the training up.

 

“I’ve mainly been using it for cross training – I’ve tried to avoid the treadmill – or dreadmill as I call it!

 

“I’m really looking forward to the marathon now. It will be a really good day and if I can do 20 miles, I’m sure the crowd can help me through the final six!”

 

Wendy Jackson, sports development manager at Xcel Leisure Centre which is run by the Coventry Sports Foundation, said: “Kerry is really testing himself with this marathon and we’re all hoping he can raise a lot of money for Guide Dogs.

 

“I’ve known him and his family for almost ten years and so we wanted to try and help his training in whichever way we could.

 

“We had a dreadful winter in terms of snow and icy conditions so hopefully being able to do part of the training in an indoor environment has helped!”