Auditel Consultant:
Carl Windsor

Local business man runs The Italian Job

29 Sep 2010 | Filed under: personal

Carl Windsor, a local business man from Brigg, will be competing in the 2010 Italian Marathon this year, along with his friend, Ken Allan.

Carl owns an Auditel franchise, a specialist cost and purchase management consultancy, and Ken is the Training and Procedures Director for Conoco.

“Ken and I met whilst playing squash, and decided we wanted to do something different,” says Carl. “We began with gentle 5km and 10km events, raising funds for local and national charities, before moving onto the bigger runs and marathons. We never expected or intended to run a full marathon event, but last year we completed our first, marathon in Edinburgh on my 50^th birthday.”

Carl and Ken’s training schedule is pretty demanding, and in the few weeks leading up to the event, the pair will be covering 40 to 50 miles per week each, and in their 18 week training programme, they will have ran 450 miles! Their diet is of course healthy, and includes a lot of fish, chicken, vegetables, potatoes and pasta, as well as the odd Chinese and Indian takeaway when they fall off the wagon!

“We decided to run the Italian Marathon as it gave us the opportunity to combine a European driving holiday with a visit to the home of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Zonda, which is something we have always wanted to do,” says Ken. “This is the 23^rd Italian Marathon, and is a memorial to the late, great, Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari, who was an athlete before going into the motor racing industry.”

Carl and Ken will be running the Italian Marathon for the Neuroblastoma Society, a charity for the aggressive childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma, that affects children up the age of 14. The aims of the charity is to give support to the families of children that are suffering from Neuroblastoma, and to also raise funds for medical research to help with the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

“We decided to choose Neuroblastoma as the charity to support after a meeting with a colleague, Tori Oldridge of Bounce PR,” continues Carl. “I was talking about the Italian Marathon and Tori asked to sponsor me, but at the time I didn’t have a charity in mind. Tori then asked if I would consider running for the Neuroblastoma Society, a charity I found out to be very close to her heart as it was set up by her parents after her younger brother died of the disease.”

Carl and Ken have set up a Just Giving page, for anyone who wishes to sponsor their marathon, and this can be found at www.justgiving.com/Carl-Windsor

“I have known Carl for a few years now through business networking, and didn’t realise he was as seriously into his running until recently,” says Tori. “I’m really grateful to Carl and Ken for running the marathon on behalf of the Neuroblastoma Society, as it is a not very well-known charity, and all the people who work for the Society are volunteers. It’s encouraging to know that you can meet such great people through business, and I wish Carl and Ken all the best with the marathon, as it means such a lot to me that they are helping to raise money for a cause that is so personal to me.”

Supporters will be able to follow Carl and Ken on their road trip and the Italian Marathon on Twitter at http://twitter.com.carlwindsor.

For further information and to donate, please either visit their Just Giving page, or email Carl on carl.windsor@auditel.co.uk. For information on the Neuroblastoma Society, please visit www.neuroblastoma.org.uk.