Andy, his wife Sally and their son Jack, have been Ifamax clients since early 2018. After qualifying as an accountant following university, Andy then worked his way through the financial services industry as a sales and commercial director.
After becoming disillusioned and bored with corporate life Andy, Sally and a couple of friends set up their own financial claims business from their bedroom in 2004.
By 2008 they had 45 staff, a turnover of £7m and an average customer satisfaction score of 9.5 out of 10. It was this great feedback from customers that Andy notes as one of the most enjoyable parts of being in business.
When the time came to exit the business, they did consider selling but;
“thought the purchaser were unlikely to have the same customer focus that we did. We decided it better to bring in a couple of directors to allow us to take a step back and eventually wind the company down.”
So how has all this led to Andy running around in a 10kg Rhino suit?
“One thing that defined me was that I was hugely overweight as a child and reached 18 stone at 17. I then lost 6 stone over a few months when I was 18. This was my biggest achievement in life (bigger than the business and running achievements).
Not only did it change my life completely and gave me confidence but also taught me that I had the determination to do the things I wanted to.”
For this reason Andy sees running as massively important for both keeping off the weight he lost when he was young and as a continuing challenge for himself. After clocking up over 60 marathons and ultras all over the world for the last 30 years, he has now decided that it makes sense to challenge himself even further!
“I am getting slower but still like to look for a new challenge. I’ve never run a marathon in costume and the rhino costume is iconic so it seemed an obvious step. I contacted the charity in August last year to apply to run for them. Since then I have learned a lot more about the plight of the rhino. It staggers me that in this day and age we are still cruel to and slaughtering animals for totally unnecessary reasons and monetary gain.
Rhino horns are used in traditional medicine and as a sign of wealth. We have eliminated 95% of rhinos and 3 of the rhino species are on the endangered list. By running in the marathon and doing talks in schools I hope I can do a little bit to raise awareness of the rhino and what’s being done to stop rhinos, and other animals facing a similar plight, becoming extinct”
When Andy first sent over pictures of him wearing the suit itself we were all surprised at how big, heavy and uncomfortable it looked and it appears that after taking it out for a practice trot last week he has confirmed it is all three.
“It moves around a lot, has limited visibility and is big and hot. It changes your running style and you have to hold the head when you to keep it still which quickly makes your arms ache!! I really hope that it’s not too warm on marathon day. Little wonder the charity said not to run too much in it before London because it might put me off doing the marathon itself.”
Andy hopes to raise an impressive £5,000 for Save the Rhino International and all at Ifamax wish him well in trying to reach that target, the many training runs to come and indeed the big day itself on Sunday 26th April.
If you would like to read more information on Andy’s fund raising and ongoing training efforts please feel free to visit his Just Giving page by clicking the button below:
Good luck Andy and thank you for being our first client in the spotlight.
If any other clients would like to feature in a future newsletter with a story, profile, event or indeed some charitable fundraising of your own please get in touch.