Olly Hughes’ Manchester Marathon

On Sunday 10 October, Olly Hughes (Deputy Chief Executive of the Hurlingham Polo Association), took part in the Manchester Marathon to raise awareness for men’s mental health and fundraise for two charities which work to prevent male suicide, James’ Place and PAPYRUS. Polo Times spoke to Olly post-marathon to find out more about his reasons for running the marathon and whether he would do it again!

Nearly £8,000 raised for PAPYRUS & James’ Place

I’ve been a casual runner for quite a few years and had done a few 10kms and one (nearly) half marathon, but nothing further than that. Occasionally the thought would cross my mind to give a marathon a go, but I found I could talk myself out of that without too much effort. However, in May this year Jason and Clare Dixon’s son, Joe, took his own life. Jason and I grew up together and learnt to play polo together; our other good friend, and Cotswold Pony Club Polo team-mate, was Paddy Cowley. Paddy had also taken his own life, in 2017. I would never have believed that suicide could touch me so closely. I wondered if there was anything I could do and then I thought that perhaps I may be able to raise a bit of money for some good causes. And all I had to do was just keep on running.

“I chose the Manchester Marathon for a few reasons: my son lives there, the Hurlingham Polo shop is there and it is quite flat! On Tuesday 1 June I took the plunge and entered the race online – no turning back. The charities I chose to raise money for were James’ Place and PAPYRUS, both charities that work to prevent male suicides. I knew of James’ Place through the polo community and I also knew that Clare Milford Haven and the charity had been a great help to Jason when Joe died. PAPYRUS is a charity that I donated to in the past after Paddy died.

This being my first marathon, I thought I’d better find out exactly what I should be doing to train for it. Turns out that it’s nothing too technical – just keep running and each week go a little bit further. Then about two weeks before the race you do the final long run of about 22 miles. Apparently, you don’t train over the full distance as the last four and a bit miles are all in your head! The last week of training is the fun part when you are ‘tapering’. You reduce your running distance and eat as much as you can, all the time. When you are married to a very good chef, as I am, this makes it all worthwhile! Mind you, Vicky had been preparing all sorts of delicious meals for me throughout my training; now I could have seconds, thirds etc! I even got as serious as considering laying off the wine, however I was reliably informed that in order to have any real effect I would need to stop for a year, which seemed entirely unreasonable. So, I took the sensible option and forsook a glass the night before.

After 17 weeks of training, and a week of

James’ Place

James’ Place was founded by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley, following the tragic loss of their son, James.

Ten days after a minor operation, James took his own life. He went looking for someone to talk to about his suicidal thoughts but didn’t find the urgent help he so desperately needed.

James’ Place opened its first centre in 2018 in Liverpool and opened a second centre in London in 2021. Their mission is to stop men dying by suicide, which is the single leading cause of death in men under 50-years-old. At James’ Place, they want to make sure that help is available for every man facing a suicidal crisis and support them to find hope for the future. They work with health partners to deliver a service to men whose needs have not been met by traditional services.

www.jamesplace.org.uk

gorging, I lined up on the start on Sunday 10 October. Sam Browne had given me some invaluable advice on how to avoid blisters, so with Roc Tape in place and my feet liberally smeared with Body Glide (it’s a thing) I was ready to go. My family, Vicky, Isaac and Jemima all came as well, and my in-laws made the trip across the Pennines to support me. The high points of the next four and a bit hours were seeing my family on several occasions, being cheered on by complete strangers, chatting to a fireman in full firefighting gear who had just had his shoelace tied up by a policeman, listening to the Sally Army band belting out some classics as we ran through Sale, reaching 13 miles (which in hindsight is not really halfway – the last six are about as tough as the first 20!), and of course getting to the finish. The sense of achievement of just doing that was massive. When the going got tough I would think of Joe and Paddy and the reason I was doing it, so to have raised nearly £8,000 for the charities capped it all. Enormous thanks to everyone who donated, for those who would still like to donate there is still time: www.justgiving.com/team/joeandpaddy

Would I advise others to do it? Yes, absolutely. It gives you an incredible sense of achievement. If you think you can then you can and if you think you can’t then you’re wrong. But you do need to give yourself a bit of time to prepare.

Would I do it again? My target was 4 hours and I finished in 4hrs 15 mins, so I may have to! I have put my name in the ballot for London 2022, so we’ll see.

Half way round the marathon

PAPYRUS

PAPYRUS is the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide. PAPYRUS was founded in 1997 by a mother, Jean Kerr, from Lancashire following the loss of her son to suicide. PAPYRUS was initially set up as the Parents’ Association for the Prevention of Young Suicide, hence the name PAPYRUS. Since 1997, PAPYRUS has continued to listen to and learn from the experiences of those personally touched by young suicide. Today, PAPYRUS works in many ways to prevent young suicide.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young people under 35 in the UK. Every year many thousands more attempt or contemplate suicide, harm themselves or suffer alone, afraid to speak openly about how they are feeling. PAPYRUS’ vision is for a society which speaks openly about suicide and has the resources to help young people who may have suicidal thoughts.

www.papyrus-uk.org