25-04-2025
London Marathon 2025: the stories that inspired runners to take part
From two unlikely friends who made a pact to run together while one was incarcerated in an Iranian jail, to a woman who lost her three closest relatives to cancer in just six years, Times readers reveal what inspired them to take on tomorrow's London Marathon.
Simon Shercliff, 52, Suffolk
Anoosheh Ashoori, now 71, was abducted by Iran's secret police in 2017 while visiting his mother, and held in the country's notorious Evin prison for more than six years. During his incarceration he made a pact with the British ambassador to Tehran, who helped negotiate his release — to run the marathon together should he be freed.
I first met him in Tehran in November 2021, during a brief reprieve that he had been given
