Emotional Berlin experience for Penarth marathon man Max (From Penarth Times)
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Emotional Berlin experience for Penarth marathon man Max
8:40am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT: Max Scott-Cook after the Berlin marathon
RETIRED teacher and veteran marathon runner, Max Scott-Cook, completed the prestigious Berlin Marathon on September 30.
He was part of a trio of Celtic runners – along with Hamish from Aberdeen, and Lana from Londonderry - who were running for LEPRA Health In Action, a charity fighting the diseases of poverty for over 85 years.
The Queen is patron of the charity, and Sir Chris Bonington, carrier of the Olympic flame on Mount Snowdon, is president. The Celtic trio raised more than £3,000 for LEPRA, and Max also raised sponsor money for PADLT, the Penarth-based charity aiding work in Lesotho.
He has run three marathons in the last year, after Dublin (October 2011) and Paris (April 2012), and following his Berlin efforts he announced his retirement from the distance.
"My family and friends have wanted me to retire for some time,” said Max.
“However, I will still run half marathons – and next year I hope to run Istanbul (the two continents half-marathon), and Budapest on the beautiful blue Danube."
Asked about his success, he added: "Marathons are first and foremost run in the mind.
“There is an outstanding motivation in the power of visualisation. You have to think success, and visualise running to the finish line and getting the medal. “In Berlin this was an emotional experience through the Brandenburg Gate.
"It was a great experience to feel the sense of freedom and joy in the reunited city,” he added.
“My father was in the RAF and knew some of the pilots who flew the heroic flights in the Berlin Airlift (1948/1949).”
And Max said he is just grateful to be able to compete, after pneumonia left him bed-bound for a month.
"I was also thankful to return before Jenny, my youngest of four daughters, gave birth to her firstborn son - an imminent event,” he added.
“I told her it is said that 'nativity for mother can be harder than running two marathons'!"
