I thought some people might be interested to hear about the Run to Pegasus Bridge, a forthcoming event which is being organised as part of the commemorations surrounding the 65^th anniversary of D-Day.   A charity has been set up, called Project 65, to raise half a million pounds for two purposes: firstly, to support 6 charities working with ex-servicemen from the second world war to the present day; and secondly, to provide a permanent memorial for the men who took part in the operation to capture Pegasus Bridge, three miles in land from the coast, which was the first part of D-Day and was captured shortly after midnight on 6^th June 1944 by troops arriving in six gliders.

The charity are organising a 65 mile run (approximately 2 ½ conventional marathons), to take place on 4^th-6^th June.  It’s split into 2 parts – a 62.5 mile run starting from Tarrant Rushton airfield (where the gliders were based) at 2pm on 4^th June (with a fly pass of the Battle of Britain memorial flight at the start), running to Portsmouth through the New Forest.  Assuming you reach this point by 12 noon the next day (the cut off time) you then board a boat to France, and run a further 3 miles along the Caen canal to arrive at Pegasus Bridge just after midnight on 6^th June, the anniversary of D-Day.  Each runner has a target of £1,000 to raise, and there are 200 runners as there were 200 men involved in the initial operation.

I think entries are now full although if anyone really wants to take part it might be worth contacting the organisers – I don’t know if any other runners from Achilles are participating already?  However, if anyone would like to sponsor me they can do so at www.justgiving.com/matthewbryantproject65 or by dropping me an e-mail, and I’ll add their names to my paper form.  Project 65 itself has a good website which gives more detail about the event and the charities being supported.  Any support is much appreciated.

I’ll let you know how I get on!

Matthew Bryant (OUCCC Captain 1996-97)

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