Our Virgin London Marathon runner Adam Fleetwood joined another 10,000 people at Silverstone Grand Prix circuit earlier this month for the annual ‘Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon’ as part of his training. Glorious sunshine, new trainers, some leg supports and plenty of carbs allowed Adam to finish the 13.1 mile slog in 1 hour and 46 minutes!
“Training is going well and the Silverstone half really helped me concentrate on pace and distance, it was great for getting in some extra miles too. We even got a shout out on Heart FM for Virgin Balloon Flights! I was pleased with my finish time and am hoping to keep a similar pace at the marathon which 
is just three and a half weeks away.”
Sponsorship is on the up and Adam has now sold all three spots on his running vest to local businesses Willows Dental, Team Support and Telling Architects bringing his current fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital over the £2000 mark – yippee!
Of course there is still time to sponsor Adam on his Virgin Money Giving Page before the big day on April 22nd.
Here is the latest blog update from Virgin Balloon Flights runner, freelance designer Adam Fleetwood.
“I’m pleased to say that sponsorship for the Virgin London Marathon is rolling in nicely, friends, family, Virgin Balloon Flights colleagues and local businesses are all making kind donations which is fantastic.
I’ve recently been selling sponsorship space on my Virgin Unite running vest and two of my very generous customers, Willows Dental (£200) and Telling Architects (£100) have taken two of the three spaces which has really helped me get close to my target of £2000.00. I’m currently at £1921.25 including gift aid.
There is still one last space on my running vest for any company that wishes to get some great exposure and at the same time give to a great cause. If you’re interested or know anyone that might be, please get in touch at wotsitdesign@gmail.com or call 07970 821266.
Please help me keep the donations rolling in for Birmingham Children’s Hospital. It will make running the 26.2 miles all the more worthwhile!
To make a donation visit my Virgin Money Giving Sponsorship page.
Thank you
Adam x”
Virgin London Marathon together with Virgin Money Giving have teamed up to create a bit of fun for Marathon runners in the form of Marathon News TV.
Last week runners of the marathon were sent a link to create a news piece simply by filling in their details, such fun! Being a good sport, Virgin Balloon Flights marathon runner, freelance designer Adam Fleetwood got his three minutes of fame, which you can watch by following this link:
http://www.marathonnewstv.com/?f=Adam%20&l=Fleetwood&v=AdamFleetwood&ch=Virgin%20Unite&n=1
You can help support our chosen charity Birmingham Children’s Hospital by sponsoring Adam on his Virgin Money Giving Page, every penny counts! You can also keep up to date with his training and fundraising on our blog.
Virgin Balloon Flights fly from over 100 launch sites in England, Scotland and Wales from as little as £89 per person, for further information, please call 0844 8448080 or visit virginballoonflights.co.uk
Ballooning Celebrities, Ballooning Events, General ballooning stuff, Hot Air Balloon Launch Sites, Hot Air Ballooning, Sir Richard Branson, The Virgin Brand, Virgin Balloon Flights Charity, Virgin Balloon Flights Press, Virgin London Marathon, Virgin Unite
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London Marathon, London Marathon 2012, marathon fundraising, marathon runners 2012, Virgin Marathon
Virgin Balloon Flights have a speedy runner set to take on the 26.2 mile world famous challenge on April 22nd this year, all in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Adam Fleetwood, freelance creative designer to Virgin Balloon Flights jumped at the chance of applying for one of Virgin Unite’s London Marathon places late last year. After some careful consideration of how to win over the votes at Virgin, Adam put together a short movie, which you can watch on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sx2UjRQyeI
After being granted a place (yippee), Adam set his mind to training, fundraising and a bit of blogging along the way to keep us all up to date with what he’s doing. There are a number of blogs up already, just click the image below to take you to the page and find out what’s been going on.
TRAINING BEGINS!
STEPPING IT UP
BURNING OFF THE TURKEY
TAKING TRAINING TO NEW HEIGHTS
BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL VISIT
With Adams efforts and an auction held by Virgin Balloon Flights at the Christmas party, we’re well on the way to hitting our £2000 target. Already we have reached a whopping £1733.75 including Gift Aid! You too can help us reach our target by sponsoring Adam via his Virgin Money Giving page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=AdamFleetwood
As always, our lovely big red balloons will be at the start line of 2012’s Virgin London Marathon, so be sure to give us a wave if you see us!
Take to the skies with Virgin Balloon Flights from over 100 launch sites in England, Scotland and Wales from as little as £89pp.
Hot Air Balloon Rides, Hot Air Ballooning, hot air ballooning, The Virgin Brand, Virgin Balloon Flights Charity, Virgin London Marathon, Virgin Unite
| Birmingham Children's hospital, fundraising, London Marathon, marathon training, Virgin Marathon
Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger! 
The world’s biggest triathlon will be swooping back into London during the height of the British summer. On Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July, this iconic event features more than 13,000 competitors swimming, cycling and running around the ExCeL Centre and Royal Victoria Docks.
To kick start the training Virgin Active gym’s across the country held an indoor TRYathalon day enabling triathletes and non-triathletes to compete against themselves for super-duper prizes and have some fun along the way! Of course Virgin Balloon Flights were supporting the event with our lovely flights as one of the prizes.
Congratulations to the lucky winners:
Ballooning Events, General ballooning stuff, The Virgin Brand, Virgin London Marathon
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Branson duo hit the streets to spur on over 36,000 runners
Sir Richard and Holly Branson made some noise at this year’s London Marathon to create the World’s Biggest Cheer which spurred on thousands of inspiring runners who have all pushed themselves to extreme physical limits for great causes.
After spending a month encouraging the UK to donate their cheers, the father and daughter team hit a giant buzzer which boomed over 10,000 cheers of support into the air causing runners and spectators alike to stop and stare – the nation’s cheers were all collated to create a collective shout-out to the runners and Virgin Balloon Flights are part of it!
Richard and Holly got involved in this 
year’s Virgin sponsored London Marathon from the sidelines, the ‘Cheering Zone’ was set up at the 19-mile mark after many of last year’s runners identified it as the mile where you are most likely to ‘hit the wall’.
Professional cheerleaders and live bands were also stationed at the ‘Cheering Zone’ to support the runners and excite the crowds.
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson said:
“This year’s runners have really outdone themselves and should be proud of finishing one of the world’s toughest marathons. Today just reminds me how the Virgin London Marathon makes everyone better off"
Check out the Virgin Balloon Flights cheers here by clicking on the Polaroid photo’s!
Hot air balloons, sun, bleary eyes, TV cameras, thousands of brilliant runners, amazing costumes, hundreds of good causes, ballooning bobbies, celebrities including Olympic legend Jonathan Edwards and a visit from the smiley man with a beard – the Virgin Balloon Flights trip to the Virgin London Marathon 2011 had it all!
See the story in pictures below…
Phew – what a day!
Congratulations to all the runners, thanks to marathon organisers, balloon area organisers, pilots, crew and everyone who helped. We can’t wait for next year!
Check out our top five runner costumes here
If see out balloons bobbing around on TV made you fancy a hot air balloon flight in Britain, come fly with us here
In our tethered Virgin balloons we had a great vantage point to watch the start of the Virgin London Marathon 2011.
As last year it was amazing to see so many people running for good causes. As if running the 26.2 miles isn’t enough, lots of competitors choose to make it even tougher by wearing weird and wonderful costumes.
So, we thought it was only fair to share a few and we’ve come up with our top five. Congratulations to the winners and we hope you’ve got round the course okay…
5. Pingu
4. Dino the Dinosaur
3. Eye of the Tiger
2. Number 9 to the Mall
1. Runaway Rhino
We also have to give a special mention to…
The snail – one of the last to start, seemingly with someone crawling along under the costume with the aim of finishing the race in 26 days! Good luck guys.
Congratulations to all the runners and especially those who went to town with their outfits. We salute you.
As the nerves of those running in the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday (April 17) start to jangle, a band of Virgin Balloon Flights’ pilots and crew are excitedly preparing for big day themselves.
They will be getting up super early to get two Virgin balloons in place at the start lines in London’s Greenwich Park to once again paint the town red and give support to the thousands of runners.
Look out for the Virgin Money balloon at the Red Start and the little Virgin Balloon Flights balloon at the Blue Start.
Last year, Virgin’s first year as the marathon sponsor, saw Sir Richard Branson running the race dressed as a butterfly and Holly and Sam Branson joining Princess Beatrice in a caterpillar which raised huge amounts of charity cash, so who knows what could be in store this year. Our balloon team will be tweeting their experiences from the race during the day.
Pilot Mark Simmons, who will be in charge of one of the balloons, said: “I tethered a balloon at the marathon last year and it was a fantastic day. It’s amazing to see how many people are up for the race and raising so much money for good causes. We’ll be cheering them on from the balloon basket!”
See our pictures from last year’s Virgin London Marathon
Don’t forget that Virgin Money, Richard Branson and his daughter Holly are hoping to establish a Guinness World Record for the LOUDEST CHEER at the Virgin London Marathon this year. By recording a cheer on their YouTube channel you could win £100 for your chosen charity.
Give your cheer here!
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