A dad-of-two has raised £1,400 for the Wales Air Ambulance for helping to save his life following a mountain bike accident.
Jonathan Bainbridge completed the Cardiff Half Marathon on 1 October to raise money for the charity that came to his aid when he came off his bike at high speed and landed on a rock at Coed y Brenin.
Airlifted to hospital, he lost teeth, suffered facial injuries including a fractured jaw, was hypothermic, required surgery, months of physiotherapy, acupuncture and extensive dental treatment before he was back to full health.
The 44-year-old has never forgotten the care he received from the WAA and has been a supporter since his accident in 2008.
He challenged himself to the Cardiff event and finished in two hours and four minutes despite never running a half marathon.
Jonathan said: “Until I started training I’d never really run, other than trying to complete the couch to 5km multiple times.
“Fitting in training around family life, childcare and working abroad for nearly three weeks before the race was challenging at times.
“I tended to do most of my short runs early in the mornings before the kids woke or late at night once they were in bed.
“The furthest I had run in training was 11 miles, but that was two weeks before the event while on business in Dallas, Texas, and I ended up hurting my knee as I was running on concrete all that time”.
Jonathan said the atmosphere in Cardiff was fantastic and his wife Charlotte and children Lucy, 7, and Tom, 5, were there to cheer him on.
He said: “It took a while for my children to comprehend that daddy wasn’t in the race to win it, far from it!
“It’s a cliché, but it’s the taking part and personal satisfaction that matters to me, which is an important life lesson for them to learn as well.
“The atmosphere was great and the event was much bigger than I expected. I managed to high-five my children soon after passing the start line. They were very excited to see me finish.”
Jonathan, who has now signed up for a full marathon, said: “I want to say thank you to everyone who has donated especially as financially, times are harder than ever for many people.
“I’m even more grateful so many people managed to dig deep to support the charity which is so close to my heart.
“I owe so much to the Wales Air Ambulance. I don’t see this as a one-off fundraising event for me, I plan like to continue to support WAA where I can. It’s due to the talent and extraordinary care of the medics, the wonderful NHS, the kindness of strangers and my friends and family, that I was able to recover and continue to enjoy my life today.”
To support Jonathan visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jonathan-bainbridge1