Brentford's head of medical Neil Greig will be running the New York City marathon for two amazing charities this Sunday.
Neil is a regular marathon runner, having completed the London, Manchester and Boston Marathons.
He will be raising money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Bowdie Hodges, two charities that are extremely close to his heart.
The Club has been raising money for CRY at a variety of events over the past few years, after the passing of former technical director Robert Rowan.
Robert died suddenly in November 2018 after suffering a fatal cardiomyopathy episode and is still fondly remembered by all our staff.
Neil said: “Since we lost Rob, the Club have done an incredible amount of work with CRY and other charities linked to cardiac health and awareness of cardiac disease. That’s all linked to the amazing work that Suzanne Rowan’s done.
“Rob’s name carries a huge amount of respect and a huge amount of weight within the Club. We miss him, so to be able to do something in his name year after year is a nice thing.
“As for Bodie Hodges, that’s a little bit more personal, really. Dave Orton, who is a really good friend and former colleague of mine, he was a physio with me at Watford, we’re still good friends to this day.
“Unfortunately, in July, while we were away on pre-season training, he lost his little boy Freddie in a car accident.
“Dave and his wife Gemma have been working with Bodie Hodges and raising money to support the charity, it’s a local Leicestershire charity, where they're based, and now Bowdie Hodges are supporting them.
“I've still not found the words to say to Dave that I'm sorry and try to make anything any better, because you can't.
“One thing that I could try and do is to help raise funds, raise awareness of the work that they do, so hopefully I will do that through running for them.”
Neil has thanked everyone for their donations so far, and he said that all the support people have shown will give him an extra lift on Sunday.
He said: "The players, particularly from a sponsorship perspective, are great. When I ran for CRY at Manchester, I think we raised around £45,000.
“I'm so fortunate to work in this environment where the players, staff, directors and fans are so generous and will contribute.
“Whenever you come across someone who knows what you're doing they’re really supportive of you, they give you words of encouragement, messages of encouragement and it just gives you that little bit of extra energy for the day.
“A lot of the guys have said they'll double their sponsorship if I get under the magic three hours, which is a big ask but, if it means I'm going to double what we can raise, I'm going to give it a go.”
As for the race itself, Neil said he is looking forward to flying over to America for what people have told him is the 'best marathon in the world'.
“I’m really looking forward to it. My wife and daughter are coming over as well so we’ll combine a little bit of sightseeing with the run on Sunday," said Neil.
“I've been told it's the best marathon in the world - there are 50,000 runners, so it’s certainly the biggest marathon in the world.”
When asked whether he feels ready, he added: “I don't think you ever feel ready. You always think you could have done a little bit more, but good enough to get around.
“I'm not sure about a time, that'll very much be on the day, start and see how the conditions are and how you’re feeling.
“It's always easier to train for a summer period than a winter period because you get more daylight. Touch wood, I’ve stayed injury free so I’ll hopefully be ready to go on Sunday.”
To sponsor Neil, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/neil-greig-nyc-cry and www.justgiving.com/fundraising/neil-greig-nyc-bodie.