Ahead of this Sunday’s London Marathon, a team from the railway industry took part in the London Landmarks half marathon to raise funds for the charity Cosy Coats.

The team, led by Mark Goodall, Network Rail‘s Wessex route director, included Laura Heath, Network Rail s Southern region Programme Manager; Deborah Pike, Network Rail Performance Process Specialist; Zeb Butt, Network Rail Security Assurance Analyst; Tara Walsh, Network Rail Customer Account Manager; Eleni Jordan, Commercial and Customer Director at C2C; and a group of teachers.

So far, the team has raised £8,436 for the charity, which Mark Goodall founded in 2020. Mark completed the challenge in two hours and 15 minutes, while Laura Heath managed to complete the course in under two hours, crossing the line in one hour and 50 minutes.

Cosy Coats is a charity that provides children and families in need with new coats, identifying them with the help of schools and other organisations. Children identified as needing a new coat can choose a new one from retailers such as Next or Marks & Spencer to give them a coat they are proud of, and something new and theirs. Usually, the children never find out their new coat came from a charity.

Since Mark Goodall founded the charity five years ago, nearly 1,000 children at over 100 schools have received new coats.

Two years ago, Mark spent a week buying 22 coats, which he hoped to sell at a pop-up shop at Birmingham New Street station. His vision paid off, as the public was so generous that the 22 coats were all sold within three hours, prompting him to purchase more on the same evening. Last October, Mark ran another successful pop-up shop at Birmingham New Street station.

In 2023, 400 children received new coats through Cosy Coats funding. If anyone wishes to donate to the team for their Half Marathon achievement, they can do so here, and more information about the charity can be found at www.cosycoats.co.uk.

The railway industry has a history of raising funds for charity, such as in February this year, a Merseyrail ultra-marathon runner and Fundraising Officer raised over £40,000 for Centre 56, a Liverpool-based domestic abuse charity, by running 107 miles around all of the Merseyrail network.

Train operator c2c also has a close partnership with a charity, and in September, it is sponsoring an Ultra Marathon in aid of the Gold Geese charity based in Southend-on-Sea.