The One Thousand Club

Friday 30th January saw the official launch of the Team Ellis 2009 fundraising push. Amazingly by the end of day one the total stood at £1,035 already pledged to the cause. A phenomenal effort from our supporters so massive thanks to everyone who found the time to donate. We did notice every donation, mainly as it filled James' inbox with notifications, and throughly appreciate every pound spent. 

Consider yourselves part of our One Thousand Club.

Thank you all. 

 

Just give us your donations

The long awaited Justgiving page for Team Ellis has launched and has set off at a nice steady pace. Sarah has been working hard on gathering donations and all team members are preparing their payday emails for Friday.

Get ready for a deluge of generously given cash tomorrow. Fingers crossed we can build on our good start.

www.justgiving.com/teamellis

Week Two: Tuesday Club

In order to make up for their slack weekend James and Tom set out with a 12 mile target on Tuesday night as punishment. In order to ensure they didn't miss a weekend run again Tom had planned a route he called 'The Bickley Beast' which mainly involved running up and down steep half-mile long hills around Bromley and Bickley.

John the pacemaker turned off onto his own route at mile four and left the Team Ellis representatives to go it alone into the dark unknown of Chislehurst's Mansions, practically running on roads paved with gold. Imagine if you will, the kind of place Bailey lives.

Fortunately our intrepid explorers survived the vertigo-inducing run right up until a strong sprint finish from Tom saw James reduced to a crumpled miserable wreck by the side of the road. Mission accomplished and lesson learned not to miss weekend runs again. Great running from Tommo who is looking like this year's dark horse after this effort.

Week Two: Sunday Club

Sadly some shamed members of the male half of Team Ellis let their teammates down this weekend by failing to complete the planned 90 minute run. To make matters worse Matt, Tom and James couldn't even drag themselves out into the rain for a jog around the local park after Stu's Stag Do in Bournemouth left them broken and unable to brave the pavements.

Only Chris and Pat kept the good name of the men hanging on by a shoestring as they sensibly avoided this weekend's 'Bournemouth Nightclub Chase' and succesfully completed their runs. Fortunately the guilty chaps have been let off the hook by the girls who agree that 48 hours of paintball, alcohol and terrible dancing along with little or no sleep are mitigating factors, although they may change their minds when they discover Tom wasn't even in the Stag Party!

The three failures have promised to complete the run this week with tomorrow night looking likely for a long moonlit stumble around south London to a chorus of booing as they go.

Bailey and Stevo carb it up!

After a Friday night hitting soho and ending up in a banging club the girls really know how to have fun….we wish!!! Friday night was spent eating pasta bake and pic ‘n’ mix and then we managed to roll ourselves and our food babies down to the cinema, the film went on and on and on, so the early night we really needed didn’t quite happen!

Saturday morning…we woke up bright and breezy and hit the road at 8.30am. The pain of waking up so early and the freezing weather was clearly evident on both our faces as we both gave each the look of ‘what the hell are we doing?!’ Despite the moans by Gemma about her unusual muscle pain, the run went smoothly and we were both back at home by 10.30am fake tanning and preparing for our girl’s weekendsJ

Victory all round again!!! Bring on the marathon!

Week One: Sunday Club

After a night of rain and gale force winds the members of the first Sunday club were glad to see the weather had cleared by the morning and despite the cold, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. 

The storm had crippled the train network and therefore a last minute change of route was called for. Tom 'Stelios' Wright was delighted to have avoided James' proposed run up and down some vicious hills to Bromley but was unsure about what lay in store on Matt's 'Three Commons Chase' which began in Tulse Hill. In addition to racing the clock, Rachel had laid down the gauntlet by attempting to spend one thousand English pounds on clothes before the boys returned.

The three attendees of Sunday Club set off at a blistering pace and soon joined the procession of runners on a lap of Clapham Common. So far, so flat. 

From here they raced on to Wandsworth Common and passed the halfway point on the clock. 

Having not yet encountered any climbs of note Tom was pleased but Matt had cheekily hidden a couple of gems in the final third. After Tooting Common James helped make things difficult by taking a wrong turn and inadvertently added an extra twenty minutes to the route as well as an extra hill or two.

Despite the extra mileage they finished a long lap in 95 minutes and even had time to pose for a quick photograph before news came in that Rachel had been distracted whilst passing a bar and was yet to spend a single penny on clothes. Victory for the Sunday Club! 

 

Week One: Meeting

The first week of training began with the inaugural meeting for Team Ellis 2009 at a pub in Westminster. 

First to the bar was Chris 'Spartacus' McDermott followed closely by Gemma 'Steveo' Stevenson who barely noticed the time fly by as Chris explained he was soon jetting off to Switzerland to buy light fittings. 

Fortunately for everyone within earshot, James 'Jimbob' Wright soon arrived but was visibly annoyed to find his entrance somewhat overshadowed by the surprise appearance of Team Ellis' last-minute member, Sarah 'Sarahbailey' Bailey. 

Once the shrieks of joy died down Matthew 'Mac' McMillan burst through the door to take the remaining seat at the table and as the final member to arrive was forced into buying a round of orange-juice and lemonade. 

Pat Hort and Freak-boy-lanky-fat-head were unable to attend and will have to wait to find out what their nicknames might be. 

For those of you who have stumbled across this blog whilst searching for ebay or who may have been handed a scrap of paper with the address scribbled onto it by one of the girls in a bar, Team Ellis is a group of elite athletes carefully selected and then bullied by James into completing this year's London Marathon. 

In doing so they hope to raise well over twelve thousand pounds for CLIC Sargent who do excellent work in caring for children suffering with cancer and their families. To find out more about the help and support CLIC offer, visit their website.  

All seven runners will be completing the 26.3 miles in memory of a very brave young girl who tragically passed away last year after a long and inspirational battle with cancer. Ellis Clark was just 16 and had battled with various forms of the disease for four years. More about Ellis as we go but suffice to say for now, this one's for you Kiddo.