![\"Runner](\"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/WhatsApp-Image-2017-08-26-at-14.27.20-1-1024x1024.jpeg\" "\\"Runner")
\nOur runner feature of the week takes a look at Lee Valley VeloPark event regular Darren Delemere who we have seen take on the one mile circuit course four times in the past 9 months. Having battled with mental health issues running has become his escape and is now a way of life for Darren that he doesn’t ever see changing! <\/p>\n
Name:<\/strong> Darren Delemere Over the course of 2014\/2015<\/strong> I suffered with mental health problems I had a break down that took me to a dark place , I got diagnosed with depression and anxiety<\/strong> and there were many factors that contributed to it. I undertook courses of therapy and even required medication.<\/p>\n My introduction to running came when my younger cousin was diagnosed with leukaemia having visited her having treatment up at St Bartholomew Hospital<\/strong><\/strong> and seeing her own journey I felt inspired to do something and try to help! So I said, I’ll do a charity run…<\/em><\/p>\n That day I got home and that was it I was set on doing a run!<\/p>\n People laughed at me like I was crazy because I was still in the early days of my recovery but the seed had been planted.<\/p>\n I bought a pair of fila trainers and through my therapist I gained a gym membership and started to run an train.<\/p>\n I set up a just giving link and booked my first event which was Saturday 26th March 2016 Greenwich Park 5k<\/strong> wearing the number 6 I finished 5th in 22 minutes 40 seconds in my first race and raised £342.41<\/strong> for St Bartholomew Hospital<\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n After that day I knew I could run and run well! <\/em><\/p>\n With that belief inside I went onto fundraise further and raise money for GOSH, Cancer Research UK , The Mitchell Huth NeuroBlastoma Memorial Fund<\/strong>. In 4 months an 4 days I raised 4 different amounts for 4 charities.<\/em> The main race I took park in was the Great Newham London 10K in aid of Cancer Research UK where I got the chance to run and finish inside the Olympic Stadium!<\/p>\n But I wasn’t going to finish there, to cap off 2016 I did a fifth run for Prostate Cancer UK Men Utd.<\/p>\n Then I discovered RunThrough<\/strong> an the Lee Valley Velopark Series<\/strong>. I booked in for my first half marathon on Saturday 4th February World Cancer Day 2017 which coincidently was also my 30th birthday<\/strong> and I ran for St Bartholomew Hospital<\/strong> once again although my experience of the course wasn’t the best – I was ill and it wasn’t a nice day meaning I got battered by the rain the whole way round.<\/p>\n However I didn’t want to be down hearted so went back online and booked my next race!<\/p>\n I booked to return to the Lee Valley VeloPark<\/strong> with RunThrough for another Half Marathon in March but this time in aid of Mind, the mental health charity. It was my 7th race in 364 days<\/strong> and it was a great one – I felt like I went from a breakdown to being the king of the town as I managed to get myself a new half marathon PB. Happy with the achievement and sense of pride I was happy to be losing my fear of the Lee valley one mile circuit, I even returned for the third time in May and finished 5th in the 5k event<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I returned once again to do the Great Newham London Run 10K for Cancer Research UK and I decided to go live on Facebook as I finished inside the Olympic Stadium which got a lot of views and seemed to go down a storm!<\/p>\n In the 10 runs<\/strong> I have taken part in so far I’ve set 6 personal bests , 3 top 10 finishes at 5K , 1 top 20 finish at 10K , 1 top 50 finish at half marathon<\/em> and all 10 runs happened in exactly 17 months with a total of nearly £2000 raised<\/strong> for various causes.<\/p>\n RunThrough<\/strong> has helped me improve as a runner big time and all the staff are polite and courteous, which has made my experience event better. I will be returning in October to take on another half marathon this time in aid of the NSPCC<\/strong>. The Lee Valley Velopark has taken a special place in my heart and is now a venue and event that I love!<\/p>\n Running is now a way of life for me and I thank RunThrough for being a part of it.<\/p>\n Hopefully I’ll conquer London one day!<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our runner feature of the week takes a look at Lee Valley VeloPark event regular Darren Delemere who we have seen take on the one mile circuit course four times in the past 9 months. Having battled with mental health issues running has become his escape and is now a way of life for Darren […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[54,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3596"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3596\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAge:<\/strong>30
\nLocation:<\/strong> Dagenham
\nFavourite Distance:<\/strong> 10K
\nFavourite Running Shoe:<\/strong> Fila
\nFavourite Running Clothing Brand:<\/strong> Sub Sports<\/p>\n