We ran 40miles in 8h 30mins & ran past 300 london hotels!

Am not sure where to begin! (Click here for the Video!)

After an incredible meal & sleep the previous night at the Marriott County Hall (where, by the way Dan convinced me to have the biggest steak  I’ve ever seen – it was phenomenal to say the very least, I seriously need to go back there), me and the legendary Dan were psyched & ready for the next day ahead…. June 1st….

7.30am we left our offices and headed to the City Inn Westminster to pass the first hotel, and then over Lambeth Bridge, it was a good strong start with me & Dan feeling ridiculously relaxed!

Err, by mistake, and clearly wrapped up in the running we mistakenly ran down Blackfriars bridge before realising our silly error (hah – first of many!! We do know London really!).

8.15am We swung past the Crowne Plaza London the city where the concierge handed us a cracking goody bag of yoghourts, juices & more crazy stuff, we were literally stuffing our faces as we ran.

8.45am Passing by the Grange City they had laid on a table-full of fruit, juices, waters, amazing!

9am (9 miles) we passed the Andaz hotel where 10 of their staff joined us, all of course in bright pink lastminute.com t-shirts (we have the same tailor), just past the Andaz, Julian Payne (the General Manager of the beautiful Threadneedles hotel) joined us too.

9.20am We parted ways with the Andaz crowd, but Julian soldiered on with us, at the Park Inn Russell Square they gave us water – and huge Snickers, we eat them straight away!!!

9.25am This was crazy, in the distance we saw a lady in a suit see us – and literally started sprinting away from us – we thought she was crazy, until we realised she was the scout party for the Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, as we rounded the corner we saw a massive reception for us outside their hotel complete with a Holiday Inn bright green sash that we ran through. Brilliant brilliant brilliant. Thanks so much guys.

9.35am Oh my god! Generator hostel guys, we love you! Amazing, all of a sudden we saw a big crowd in the street – at first we thought they were for something else

9.45am Ambassadors Bloomsbury – wow – how did they know we love flapjacks! Loving you guys!

9.55am Our first power break at the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street, amazing, it seemed like half the hotel were out to cheer us, complete with banners & signs with our names on (now we know what it is like to be famous!!).

10.10am at the Grange Fitzrovia, again, looooads of staff outside to give us a huge huge cheer, energy drinks, waters – I think by this point me & Dan & Julian were overdosing on lucozade!!

10.40ish The next power break was courtesy of the Radisson Edwardian Hampshire on Leicester Square, this was something truly amazing! The staff ushered us right into the hotel where there was a whole banquet of a meal waiting for us! Spaghetti Bolognese, smoothies, more energy drinks, waters, towels, cakes, seriously! I wanted to stay there and forget about the run! Brilliant.

11am At the Holiday Inn London Mayfair there were ten of our lastminute.com staff awaiting our arrival ready to join us. Thanks Clinton so much. We all headed out into the showery Piccadilly hub, traffic, people, kids, we were fighting against it all!! We squirreled around some backstreets passing many Mayfair hotels before heading back on to Piccadilly passing the Athenaeum and then onto Park Lane.

11.05am Wow! At the Intercontinental Park Lane – what a reception! All the staff were outside cheering us on – they had the waters/ the drinks, but this I really liked – Pink flannels – genius, I still have mine! Thank you guys.

11.10am I think this one was Dan’s favourite (19 miles now) the Hilton on Park Lane, they had huge banners supporting us, a masseuse which Dan dived right into the chair for, and we took loads of pics there, excellent.

11.20am Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott hotel, ice-cream time! It was raining but we didn’t care, the lastminute.com staff were joined by Rebecca from the NSPCC, and we all tucked into some seriously incredible ice-creams!

11.30am The lastminute.com team parted ways with us at the Radisson Edwardian Berkshire where we had another power break, Rob Hunt & Alex Large were particularly happy here to gulp down a much needed yakult (they swear by them).

12 noon Alistair & Mark M stayed with us. Bang on midday we saw Joseph at the Dorset Square hotel, he couldn’t join the run as he was manning reception (at the same time as he was waiting out in the rain for us to pass by – what a legend).

12.15pm We steered into the Radisson Blu Portman Square – wow wow wow, I felt like I had arrived home. A huge reception in front of the hotel complete with streamers, balloons, and general madness, I love these guys. Simone & Agnes from the hotel joined Dan & I, and still Mark M & Alistair as we headed on….

12.20pm Hyatt – the Churchill, Tina & the gang were cheering us on outside the hotel, they are brilliant, thank uuuuuuuu

12.25pm We swung round to the Radisson Edwardian Sussex, and again, thank you to the lady that stood out for us in the pouring rain, they had a banner too, amazing

1pm We hit the 26 mile marker. Saskia & Gemma joined myself and Dan, and Simone & Agnes to celebrate and film the moment! But, errr, we still had 14 miles to go !!!

1.10pm We realised we missed out passing by a couple of hotels (we took a couple of wrong turnings and my map had suddenly become very wet!!!!) really really sorry to those we missed around that bit I think we were seriously losing our minds at this point – we needed something to give us that big push, and….

1.20pm Outside the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments – we’re HUGE HUGE fans of these guys, Monica & Karol were there with great banners – you guys are amazing, thank you so so sooooo much

1.25pm (Mile 27) The tonic were badly needed came in the form of Steve Lowy of Umi Hotels – thank goodness. Fresh from several sporting injuries Steve lead the way for me and Dan across Bayswater, and then through to Kensington, giving us the motivation & energy we really needed (Steve stayed with us all the way to the very end completing 13 miles and then went and played football in the evening!).

2.30ish (by this time, time itself became a blur!) we got a bit confused but finally found the 54 Boutique hotel, phew.

2.35pm We stopped by the Gallery & Gainsborough hotels where we received a warm welcome from Neelu & Mr Ambrose, thank you so much guys,  it was really great to see you.

3ish (mile 33) As me and Steve sped on deep in conversation (about the london hotel industry – what else!) we noticed that Zoe & Dan were not behind us – whoops!! We waited and then from out of nowhere came Zoe sprinting towards us. Zoe told us we had to back down Knightsbridge as Dan had stopped at the Beaufort hotel!! We went back and hooked up with Vips who gave us some very welcome iced bottle water and we had a little chat for us all to quickly recover from the sprinting!!

3.30pm(ish) (36miles) This was a long stretch now, Sloane Street, down Sloane Square, up Eaton Road, and soon we were back on home territory.

4pm (the finish!), I don’t know how we did it, and were still standing but Dan, myself, Zoe, and Steve Lowy all sped down Victoria Street to the finish line, outside the office (oh my god) there were loads and loads of people, cheering, and waving us through the final hurdle, we crossed the finished line and were showered with champagne – honestly, there is no greater feeling than that.

Also, I couldn’t finish this post without mentioning and giving special thanks to Charles Beebee, Lisa Schwedt, Christopher Robinson, Gail Jordan, Lisa Smith, Barry Wishart, the Hilton Park Lane crew, Rebecca Walters, Saskia Van Der Pol, Saskia Mantle, Gemma Bacon & Ed Kamm, you are all legendary, and we love you. And also also also, of course everyone who took part, sponsored, and supported us. Together we raised over £3,600 for NSPCC, it is absolutely overwhelming.

We did it, I don’t know how, but we did it, it was incredible, the support was overwhelming, and one thing is very certain, there is a lot of love in the london hotel industry, a lot.

On behalf of Dan Evans & myself, we want to thank everyone involved (and there’s a lot of people!!) for making this one of the truly most exceptional days ever.

See you next year!!!!

Big big london love.

The Big London Hotels Run makes the tv news!

The Big London Hotels Run makes the tv news! (6th May 2010)

London runners from lastminute.com to cover 40 miles and visit 300-plus hotels for NSPCC fundraising event

London runners from lastminute.com to cover 40 miles and visit 300-plus hotels for NSPCC fundraising event

Two London hotel account managers for lastminute.com will run 40 miles and pass all of their 300-plus hotel partners on June 1st.

Martin Kleinman (35) and Dan Evans (30) hope to complete the mammoth run – starting near Scotland Yard at 7am – in under seven hours. Both are keen amateur runners and have completed other events for charity, including the London Marathon and the Royal Parks Half Marathon.

The pair are raising money for the NSPCC and have been joined by their hotel partners for sponsorship and support.
Fund-raising helpers from The Marriott Hotel group have created a money-cannot-buy auction package consisting of an unbelievable London luxury weekend, dining in Gordon Ramsay restaurants, staying in their luxury hotels, and trips to the London Eye and 25th anniversary show of Les Miserables included.

The package is to be auctioned on Ebay and similar auctions will follow once the Marriott package has been won.

The run will start in London’s Victoria Street opposite Scotland Yard near the Crowne Plaza St. James Hotel and the route will pass 300-plus hotels with staff and hoteliers cheering the guys on.

Radisson Edwardian hotels are providing ‘power breaks’, Hilton providing foot massages, and others organising “Mexican waves”. Some hoteliers have pledged to join them for part of the run – and there is even a stop scheduled for ice-cream in Park Lane!

Simultaneous events are taking place in both Paris and Amsterdam (by bicycle in Amsterdam!).

For more information: http://www.thelondonhotelexperts.com/june-1st-run/ 

EDITORIAL CONTACT: Mike Beardall, Oakfield Media on 01273 495619 or 07889 707807. E-mail: editor@mikebeardall.com

lastminute.com contact: Martin Kleinman on 0207 866 4212 (direct line) or 07824 691583. E-mail: mkleinman@lastminute.com