It took dedication, passion and months of training, but last month our London Marathon team came out to run for the rainforest, raising a staggering £14,300 as they each ran over 26 miles in support of RFUK.

One of our runners, Trudie Young, who started running a year ago, decided to support our work because the environment is important to her family.

“We are very much interested in how the Rainforest Foundation is trying to combat the massive scale of illegal logging and securing lands to help prevent this... We know just how important the rainforests are to indigenous tribes and wildlife.”

While juggling family life and training for the epic feat was a challenge, Trudie said that running for charity was an honour.

Sinthya Jácome travelled all the way from Belo Horizonte in Brazil to run for RFUK. She was inspired to run for us because she thinks forest people should be integrated into society with access to health, education and technologies so they can fight for and guarantee their rights.

“I personally believe that they should be part of society, without losing their roots and traditions,”

said Sinthya, who has seen the destruction of rainforests in her country, first-hand.

"When choosing to run in London, I had the option to pay an agency or run for charity and without a doubt, allying my sport with social responsibility brought a sense of ‘duty fulfilled’ with the world.”

Our thanks to go to Trudie, Sinthya, Tara Patel, Alice Aldous, Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, Eder Magalhaes, Ben Elliot and Sian Davies!

To join Team RFUK in 2018 and be part of the amazing London Marathon, please email events@rainforestuk.org or call us on 020 7485 0193 for more information.