Rosie & Ivo on a mission for a new PB at Leeds Marathon

After making their assisted running marathon debut in London in 2024, long time friends Rosie & Ivo reunited in Rosie’s home county to take on Leeds on Sunday May 11th 2025. With their new Delichon Delta Buggy, orange ‘Gina’, having to navigate scorching heat and some truly despicable hills, they weren’t able to take down their London time of 3:36, but they were delighted with their 3:55, and more importantly so proud to be part of the Rob Burrow Marathon, an event that means so much to the MND and wider disabled community.

This was Rosie's first fundraiser for her newly launched foundation, The Rosie Jones Foundation, which believes in empowering lives and changing minds to create a world in which no person living with cerebral palsy feels alone or unheard. 

Ivo continues his long term support for MS Society UK to provide invaluable resources and support for those living with MS. From investing in crucial research to supporting access to treatment and community. 

An estimated 160,000 people are living with cerebral palsy (CP) in the UK and an increased estimate of 150,000 people are living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Rosie and Ivo connected through their shared lived experiences with CP and MS. Rosie is amongst 4% of people in the UK who have ataxic cerebral palsy and Ivo's mother has multiple sclerosis. Though the conditions impact roughly the same number of people in the UK, the level of awareness is often not the same and Rosie and Ivo are determined to change this through their collaboration.

CP is a group of lifelong conditions that affect movement and co-ordination, caused by damage to the brain before, during or soon after birth. There are five major types of cerebral palsy: spastic, athetoid (dyskinetic), ataxic, hypotonic, and mixed type. Even if two people have the same type of CP, it impacts each individual differently. 

MS is a condition that affects nerves in your central nervous system and is most often acquired in adulthood. The average age of diagnosis is 30-40 but there is no set age of MS onset. Like CP it impacts each individual differently and presents through a range of symptoms like blurred vision and problems with how we move, think and feel.

The key message Rosie and Ivo are determined to share is that no matter the condition, it is unequivocally about focusing on the individual and not defining people by their conditions and/or difference in ability, but rather seeing them for the person they are and creating a society that not only supports, but celebrates everyone.