Dame Kelly Holmes will run her first London Marathon on Sunday
Tuesday 19 April 2016 17:23, UK
Dame Kelly Holmes admits she is stepping into the unknown when she runs in her very first London Marathon on Sunday.
The double Olympic champion will line up alongside 53,000 amateur runners in the 26.2-mile race, more than a decade after she stopped competing as a middle-distance athlete.
"Last year, I went to the London Marathon to support two friends and I just found the environment, the energy and the atmosphere around it just amazing," Holmes told Sky Sports News HQ.
"So I combined the challenge of running a marathon with the challenge of running for five charities and raising £250,000.
"I have been trying to blank it out but everyone keeps wishing me good luck for Sunday!
"I'm a bit worried about whether I'm eating and drinking enough, it's more the whole preparation because I have no idea of what to do.
"But the first thing is to get round. I'm under no illusion that it is a long way and it will take a toll on my body. I think I can run under 3hr 30 mins, probably a little quicker, because I have an idea about what my average pace will be.
"I think I will need to control myself but the thing I am most looking forward to is that finish line."
Dame Kelly, who won 800m and 1500m gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, is raising money for Myeloma UK, Mind UK, Hospice in the Weald and the Pickering Cancer Care charity.
She is also raising funds for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, established in 2008 to help get lives on track by using world class athletes to engage, enable and empower disadvantaged young people.
One of the athletes representing the trust is British and European kickboxing champion Ruqsana Begum, who fights Sweden's Susanna Salmijarvi for the world title on Saturday.
"I was fascinated with the work they do with young people who just need a little bit of guidance," Begum told Sky Sports.
"The Trust run education seminars and workshops using top-class athletes to talk about their journeys in the hope that it inspires youngsters and helps them believe that they too can be successful in life.
"I have been blessed to come this far in my career and it is so important to give something back.
"Kelly is so down-to-earth and so humble and it's great that she set up this project because her name brings a lot of awareness and attention to what the charity stands for.
"Kelly is such an inspiration and was one of my first role models. I remember watching the likes of her and other powerful athletes like Tessa Sanderson as a young girl. They really attracted me to sport in the first place.
"I know she is going to do the business on Sunday."
