Ajay's Edinburgh Marathon 2026 Fundraising Page

My Story: From Dubai to Wapping to Edinburgh, One Mile at a Time

In 2007, I moved from Dubai to London as a nervous 14-year-old. While everything else was changing, one thing remained constant: my unhealthy obsession with cricket. I was never a serious player, but I’ve spent my childhood (and frankly, most of my adult life!) arguing about every stat, delivery, and DRS decision.

In 2020, during the dark days of lockdown with not much else to do, I started running. What began as a way to get out of the house turned into a genuine passion. After completing three half-marathons (Edinburgh 2024 & 2025, and London's Big Half 2025), I’ve decided—for some probably stupid reason—to double the distance for the very first time and tackle the 2026 Edinburgh Marathon.

Why the Lord's Taverners?

The "Tavs" perfectly combine my obsession with cricket and my love for running. I want kids who are disabled or underprivileged to be touched by what I believe is the greatest sport in the world. I want them to have the chance to experience the game, the teamwork, and yes—even the endless arguments about the rules—that I’ve enjoyed for decades.

• £25 could cover a support coach for one cricket session.
• £50 could provide a disability cricket session in a SEND setting.
• £75 could fund a young person’s entire 2026 cricket season.

The Winter Grind

With the race in May 2026, I have five months of training ahead of me, at the time of writing. I’m naturally nervous about the cold, lonely winter miles in London, but I’m excited to get started.

I’m incredibly grateful to my family, friends and to the Wapping Running Club, for keeping me going—especially during our Tuesday night 5ks and Saturday Parkruns.

I also want to thank Adam Collins and Geoff Lemon from The Final Word podcast. Their community gave me the platform to fundraise for the Tavs over the last two years' Edinburgh Half Marathons. Meeting fellow cricket-obsessed runners through them has been a highlight of this journey.

The "Scorecard" (How you can help/torment me)

To keep me motivated during the winter, I’ve set up some donation challenges, many of which are to acknowledge a few significant moments in Indian cricket: 

• £7.00 (The MS Dhoni Challenge): To acknowledge the impact that MS Dhoni has had as the greatest finisher of Indian cricket, I will finish an easy training run with my final kilometre clocked at 7:00/km.
• £18.30 (The Indian Cricket Landmark Challenge): India's first World Cup win was in 1983, with the team defending just 183 runs (as well as with 183 being Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli's highest ODI scores). I will be finishing an 18.3km run outside Lord's Cricket Ground to honour the moment Kapil Dev lifted the trophy as well as Ganguly's shirt-swinging.
• £19.32 (The Test Cricket Challenge): To commemorate India's 1st ever test match played in 1932, I will complete a Parkrun (5km) wearing cricket whites. 
• £24.10 (The Sachin Tendulkar Discipline Challenge): To celebrate Tendulkar's 241* at Sydney in 2004, in a mammoth innings where the great man refused to play even a single cover drive. I will run 24.1km with my heart rate capped at 160bpm.
• £32.90 (The Gabba Miracle Challenge): I will run 32.9km in a single session to commemorate India’s historic chase at the Gabba in 2021, sealing the nation's greatest ever moment in test cricket.

Finally, for every £10 donated, you can choose three songs for my running playlist, OR select a podcast episode I must listen to on a run. You can choose to inspire me or absolutely torture me - it's your call. 
 
Thank you for helping me pad up and get to the crease on 24 May!