Town Supporters Trust chairman Carl Day is aiming to raise £10,000 for the British Heart Foundation by running this Sunday’s London Marathon dressed in a suit of 15th Century armour. You may have seen Carl giving the outfit a pre-race run out around the Portman Road pitch at half-time during the Blues’ recent victory over Reading.
Carl says his chosen charity is one which means a lot to him and his family: "My daughter Megan has a heart condition and the treatment she received was developed thanks to fundraising by the British Heart Foundation, so we feel we owe them a great deal. I’m doing this to pay them back for that help.
"My original target was £5,000 but due to the level of support so far, I have raised it to £10,000.”
In addition to traditional sponsorship, Carl has come up with other methods of raising cash ahead of the marathon on April 25th: "I have managed to sell advertising space on both the armour and shield with Town academy sponsor ROL exclusively purchasing the shield after seeing me at half-time at Portman Road.
"If companies keep sponsoring me by purchasing advertising space on the suit of armour, then I expect to look like a 15th Century Formula One driver in armour!”
Unsurprisingly, Carl isn’t looking to complete the marathon in a particularly quick time: "I expect to complete it in between 10 and 12 hours, but this current warm spell is making it a lot more difficult, especially with the fact that the arms of the armour don't allow me enough room to get my hands to my mouth, so have to get someone to feed me drinks. I am currently asking the London Marathon organisers to allow me a support person.
"The armour, chainmail and shield come in at six and a half stone and I sweat so much that I won't have any fear of ‘doing a Paula Radcliffe', which is a blessing as it takes about seven or eight minutes to get out of the armour, and that's with help.”
Donations to Carl’s cause can be made here, while the Just Giving website has written a runner blog on Carl, which can be found here.
You can see Carl in full 'athletic' action here.