A RNLI crewman felt like a “boil-in-a-bag chicken” as he undertook the London Marathon while wearing his life-saving equipment.
Allan Parker, 37, from Clacton, took on the legendary race on Sunday morning alongside thousands of other fundraising runners.
The police officer of 13 years did so in aid of the RNLI, for which he has been a volunteer crew member since September 2018.
He joined the lifesaving outfit’s Clacton Lifeboat Station shortly after moving to the seaside town, fulfilling a lifelong goal he had set himself as a young boy.
Having previously taken part in the New York half-marathon, Mr Parker is no stranger to the endurance-testing nature of road-running on hardened surfaces.
On this occasion, however, he decided to take on the gruelling 26.2-mile route around the capital while wearing his heavy, protective RNLI wetsuit.
And he admitted while the experience “awesome” it wasn't without its difficulties.
“I completely underestimated how much harder it would be wearing the kit,” added Mr Parker, who completed the race in five hours and 40 minutes.
“The problem with the waterproofs is they retain the heat, so I was like a boil-in-a-bag chicken, and finished slower than I had hoped.
“But it was amazing and the support I received while I was running round, because of what I was wearing, was huge, even from the other runners.
“It was awesome. The crowd were going wild and the staff were all cheering – it was just fantastic.”
Mr Parker’s efforts have so far raised roughly £1,500 for the RNLI which will help to ensure the non-profit organisation can continue its life-saving work.
The average annual running costs of an inshore lifeboat station like the Clacton headquarters in Hastings Avenue, for example, can be as much as £95,000.
Personal protective equipment can also cost in excess of £1,800 per crew member, while training costs can amount to as much as £1,600 each year.
He said: “I am just one of more than 9,000 operational volunteers providing a 100-mile ring of safety around the UK and Ireland, along with protesting its major waterways.
“As many of you will be aware, without your generosity the RNLI would not exist. I am just shy of £1,500, so I still need to raise more.”
To donate visit tinyurl.com/5ymwuymx.
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