Although Sarah has done multiple marathons before, this is her first in three years after saying she’d never do another. But having lost her Mum, Beryl, 26 years ago Sarah wanted to run the 26.2 mile distance as a poignant way to remember her.
Sarah and her husband Michael are first time Puppy Raisers for Guide Dogs. They have spent the last year raising Ernie, a yellow Labrador, who is due to leave their home soon to start his formal guide dog training.
Sarah said: “After signing up I thought, if I’m going to do this I might as well do it for a good cause. And doing it in Blackpool means I can have Ernie at the finish line”.
The couple have been puppy raising Ernie since May 2024 and they describe their time together as “a wonderful journey watching him grow from a small puppy, learning new things as he goes.
“I’ll be running/staggering/walking/crawling Blackpool Marathon to raise funds for this amazing charity, so more people can benefit from the support and help they provide”.
A spokesperson for Guide Dogs said: “Running a marathon is no easy task and we’re incredibly grateful for Sarah’s support.
“As a charity we rely almost entirely on donations to keep our life-changing services for people with sight loss running.
“We wish Sarah the best of luck on Sunday 27th April and we’ll be cheering her on in spirit!”
Every day, 250 more people join the 2 million already with sight loss. This number is set to double by 2050, which is why the work of Guide Dogs is more important than ever before.
Guide dogs has trained over 37,500 guide dogs. That’s more than one new guide dog every day since the charity’s first guide dog partnerships were created in 1931.
Sarah is aiming to raise £500, which could pay for:
- 2.5 days of training for a guide dog, or
- Two Fine Motor Skills Bundle, providing a package of toys carefully selected by our experts to help a child with sight loss to develop their dexterity skills.
To support Sarah and help her reach her target, visit her Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/sarah-bulman-2