Shadow Health Secretary to run London marathon for children of alcoholics
SHADOW Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth is to run the London Marathon to raise money for the children of alcoholics - after last year vowing never to attempt the 26-mile course again.
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The 39-year-old fatherof-two hopes to smash his previous time of four hours and 19 minutes, and hopes Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will "dig deep" to sponsor him.
Mr Ashworth, whose father died of alcoholism, raised £8,000 for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics last year and hopes to exceed £10,000 this time.
He said: "I did say: 'Never again' after I did it last year.
"It's such an important cause and one that I'm passionate about."
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It's such an important cause and one that I'm passionate about
"The Sunday Express has really been helping raise awareness of the plight of children of alcoholics so if this can help too then it's worth doing."
The Sunday Express has launched a Children of Alcoholics Crusade in a bid to encourage the Government to adopt changes to help Britain's 2.5 million children who live with an alcoholic parent.
Mr Ashworth joked that he hoped Mr Hunt would visit his Just Giving sponsorship page.
"I hope he digs deep and slips me twenty quid," he added.