Tom Peters, Jamie Park to run the London Marathon in memory of Matt Campbell

Tom Peters will be joined by his father as well as fellow MasterChef: The Professionals contestant Jamie Park to run the London Marathon this weekend in memory of friend and chef Matt Campbell, who sadly passed away last year.

The 29 year-old chef, originally from the Lake District, suffered a heart attack during the 2018 race, to the shock and disbelief of his friends and family. The following week, Tom and Jamie were joined by thousands of runners from around the country, running the last 3.7 miles of the Marathon in Matt's honour, raising more than £300,000 for The Brathay Trust.

Former Roux at Parliament Square chef Tom Peters set sail for Oslo earlier this year to work at Maeemo and is is flying back to run the Marathon this weekend.

In an interview with The Staff Canteen, Tom said he hopes the conditions will be better than last year – the hottest on record since the race was established 38 years ago. The chef sustained an injury at last year’s event and his training was somewhat shorted by the weather conditions in his new hometown.

He said: “Running through snow at -10°C temperatures was a bit tough so that knocked my training a little bit.”

A week in the Los Angeles heat got him back into the swing of things, but then he strained his calve – and due to his working long hours, he hasn’t been able to heal it.

Image: Tom Peters and Matt Campbell

“It’s actually started to feel better now, but because it’s been so painful I’ve struggled to keep the consistency in my training.”

While his ambitions to run the race in a good time may have flown out of the window, his reasons remain.

“If it wasn’t for what happened last year, I wouldn’t be running.”

The three men will be raising funds for The Brathay Trust, a Cumbria-based youth charity which Matt and his departed father both fundraised for when they raced.

Thanks to the £300k raised last year, the charity has been able to build out its programmes, explained Tom: “A small charity like that would never have got that amount of money – ever – and suddenly they were flooded with donations because of Matt.”

“Last year they only had four runners, this year they have about 12 of us.”

His personal target for this marathon is £1,500 and his fellow runners are hoping to raise around the same, but the group have a number of other events planned at the end of the year.

Asked what Matt would say if he knew they were taking part, Tom said:

“I think he would just laugh at us all. Especially Jamie, if he knew that Jamie was running I think he would literally wet himself. He’s not a runner and he’s hated every single run we’ve been on. We did a practice half marathon and it was tough. I think he would find great joy in that, but also he’d be tremendously proud of everybody involved."

While the fundraising was easy last year, Tom said that being in Oslo has made it harder. Most of the donations he has received have been from friends, family and social media followers.

If you’d like to support Tom, click here. To find out more about The Brathay Trust, visit their website here.

Image: Tom Peters

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