Mon 19 – Sun 25 April 2027 · In memory of Rorz
Hi, we are Jamie and Ben, and in honour of our friend Rorz, we'll be completing seven marathons in seven days across seven disciplines: trail, walk, swim, row, paddle, pedal, run — from the Shropshire Hills to the finish line of the London Marathon.
Together, we are hoping to raise £8,000 for The Institute of Cancer Research.
Until Day 1
Monday 19 April 2027
Trail · Walk · Swim · Row · Paddle · Pedal · Run.One challenge, back-to-back, no rest days.
In memory of
In June 2026 Rorz passed away. He was diagnosed in the previous month with an aggressive form of gall bladder cancer which had spread to his liver. A month before that, we had been celebrating his 40th birthday together, none the wiser that there was anything wrong.
Rory had a beautiful marriage with Laura and they were incredible parents to their wonderful twin boys Freddie and Laurie. He was a beloved teacher at Shrewsbury High School. He was a great husband, father, brother, and son. He was a great friend. He always took care of himself, playing football and making sure he got his five portions of fruit and veg per day. All those who knew Rorz have been left with a profound sense of shock and sadness.
Sponsor the challenge in memory of Rorz.
Donate on JustGiving
The route
Shropshire Hills
Trail · 26.2 mi
Wolverhampton
Walk · start
Telford
Swim · 10k
Shrewsbury
Row · 26.2 mi
Bridgnorth
Kayak · 30 mi via Ironbridge
Cycle south-east
100+ mi
London
Marathon · finish
Each day, in detail
Jamie’s notes
This is a challenging trail run through the Shropshire Hills Area of Natural Beauty. It's a 26 mile run with 1000 metres of elevation. Rory lived with his family in the Shropshire countryside. It feels like a fitting place to start the challenge.
Jamie’s notes
The walking marathon starts in Pendeford, Wolverhampton. This where Rorz grew up. We spent many nights out in Wolverhampton as teenagers, ending up at our friend Stu's house just down the road. Leaving Wolverhampton the route takes me out to Codsall, Albrighton, Shifnal and into Telford, my hometown. We head past Thomas Telford School, where we spent our formative years (more on this tomorrow) and then down through Telford, past my mum's house in Dawley, and on to Ironbridge. Rorz and Laura first lived in Ironbridge when they moved in together. It's a beautiful and historic place, packed with memories. It's where Rorz and Laura first told me they were expecting the boys. I'll finish on the bridge.
Jamie’s notes
Day 3 is the swim. This will be the hardest leg apart from the last. 10000m is considered the marathon distance of swimming and is tough at the best of times, but I'll be fatigued from days 1 and 2. Luckily, I'll have memories to spur me on. The swim will take place in the pool at Thomas Telford School. We met here, bonded in English class, and Rorz loved it so much he came back here to teach. It's where his path crossed with Laura's for the umpteenth time and they got together over a late night game of scrabble. The pool arrived late in our time at school, but it was crucial to the genesis of our friendship group / football team, the C Team. Without the pool, there would be no Planty, the pool manager. Without Planty reluctantly agreeing to escort us to games, there would be no C Team. I'll be taking 400 turns in that pool. Wish me luck!
Jamie’s notes
Day 4 sees me row 26 miles on a rowing machine. This is the middle leg of the water triple header although I'll be firmly on dry land. I'll be at Shrewsbury High School. Rorz was loved as a teacher there and the tributes from former students are simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. He combined a lightning wit and capacity for care that most teachers, including me, could only dream of. I rowed for a year at university but I'm pretty sure we were terrible and in my second year I quit so I could dedicate myself to the darts team. This could be fine or it could break me.
Jamie’s notes
Physically, despite my arms and back being completely wiped out from day 4, 30 miles downstream on a kayak will be the easiest leg of the adventure. I'll be heading down the river Severn from Shrewsbury, back through Ironbridge, and on to Bridgnorth. This is me heading to London baby! It could however be the most dangerous leg, depending on what the water is doing. I'm going to assume that it'll be fine. I didn't do capsize drills at scout camp for nothing.
Jamie’s notes
The bike ride from Bridgnorth to London will be well over 100 miles, which is the generally held 'marathon' of the bike world. I have done this distance before but the cumulative effect of the days before mean this is a complete unknown. I harboured dreams of getting Rorz into cycling, but when it came to sport football was the only game in town.
Jamie’s notes
The last leg is the legendary London marathon. It needs no introduction. I would love to beat my previous marathon time of 3hrs 55 but I expect it will be a case of getting round by any means necessary.
Ben and I will hope to cross the finish line together. We will be proud to do this in honour of Rorz.
Help Jamie and Ben reach our shared £8,000 target - please click here!
Jamie and Ben's shared total
—of £8,000
Total updating soon
We are fundraising together on one shared page - your donation goes to The Institute of Cancer Research.
Messages of support
Messages from donors will appear here. Be the first to leave one when you donate.
The road there
Our training playlist is a collaborative playlist for both of us - add the songs that will get Jamie and Ben through 187 miles.
Journal
It has been a whirlwind 24 hours since we started fundraising. Thank you to everybody who has sponsored us so far. Please spread the word. We have already raised our shared target to £8,000. And so many people have said they'd like to get involved that we're going to have to set up a spreadsheet to track it all. Meanwhile, training continues - it's interval training for me tonight, and no doubt Ben is out on the bike!
Jamie
Press coverage
Listen to our appearance on BBC Radio Shropshire.
BBC Radio Shropshire 9 November 2026 · 5 min 54 sec
Presenter: But firstly, let's speak to two men who are training for a remarkably difficult challenge next year in memory of their friend Rory Allen from Ruyton-XI-Towns. Rory sadly died in June at the age of 40. He'd been diagnosed just a month earlier with an aggressive form of gallbladder cancer that had spread to his liver. Well, now two of his school friends, Jamie Waller and Ben Wood, are preparing to complete seven marathons in seven days across seven disciplines, so trail, walk, swim, row, paddle, pedal, run, travelling from the Shropshire Hills to the finish line of the London Marathon. And I'm really thrilled to say that Jamie and Ben are both with us this morning. Good morning, both of you.
Jamie and Ben: Good morning.
Presenter: Thanks for being with us. Ben, let me start with you. Would you tell us a bit about Rory and why he's been an inspiration for this?
Ben: Well, we were school friends. We met at Thomas Telford School and, yeah, we hit it off around year nine and we were inseparable ever since. He was just an incredible father, great husband. We were always laughing when we were together and just a fantastic friend that we wish we had more time with.
Presenter: Jamie, whose fault is it in the main for deciding to do this? Is it you or Ben that has to lead off on this?
Jamie: That's me. I have to take the blame for that, yeah. I dreamt the whole thing up, and it was planning it as a solo venture, really. And then one day out for a run with Ben, I unveiled the idea and talked him through it, and then took a few minutes and then said, I've got to do it too. And there we are.
Presenter: So it's sort of your fault as much as anyone, Ben, if you've agreed to this.
Ben: I started off thinking, oh, I'll do some bits of it, and I'll do maybe... And then I thought, I've got to go all in and join Jamie for the whole thing. I thought about crossing that line on the London Marathon, what an experience that would be to do together, and just kind of the joint effort we could do for fundraising and raising money for such a good cause to try and find out why such a thing would happen at such a young age to a healthy person.
Presenter: Absolutely. Jamie, a lot of people in the lead-up to the London Marathon will not do anything, and they'll just eat lots of pasta. This is the opposite of that. How are you going to cope with it?
Jamie: Oh my gosh. Well, we've started training in earnest. You know, we're at various points of our training journey, I would say. Ben's a fit cyclist as it is. I've been focusing on running and getting in the pool, starting from a very low base of doing 20 lengths and now up to about 200. But 400 lengths is the target, so we're kind of steadily building up there. Ben's also been running up and down the Wrekin, so we're definitely getting the miles in now.
Presenter: What worries you the most, Ben, in terms of the disciplines you're going to be doing?
Ben: The swim, 100% the swim. I've cycled quite a lot, and I've got quite a good fitness base. I've run half marathons. I've run an awful marathon before. But it's the swim that I haven't really done that much of. So I'm two weeks into going weekly now, and I've built up a couple of kilometres. Not a great pace, but a steady pace that I think that I can keep. And I think that's the big thing. It's about keeping a pace that we can keep, because it's remembering there's a next day and a next day and a next day and a next day.
Presenter: Jamie, who are you raising money for then? How much do you hope to raise in all of this?
Jamie: Well, we're raising money for the Institute of Cancer Research. We've got an initial target of £8,000, and we're really happy with how it's going so far. There's a long, long way to go. If we hit that £8,000 target, you know, I'd love the sky to be the limit, and we'll keep on pushing as high as we can possibly go.
Presenter: And I suppose the end of this, how do you think you'll feel, Ben? The London Marathon itself is an emotional event, but given your build-up to it, that's going to be quite something, isn't it?
Ben: Yeah, I think it will be an absolute relief. I think crossing that line, I can't think of many greater feelings than crossing the line with Jamie, having done it in honour of Rorz. And it's one of those things that I think it'll be a massive relief for my wife as well for the training that I'm putting in. I think she's been very forgiving.
Presenter: Yeah, I mean, it's a lot, a lot to do to get ready for this. Jamie, where can people find out more info about all that you're doing, maybe get in touch, support you in whatever way they can?
Jamie: You can read all about the challenge at sevenmarathons.co.uk, so sevenmarathons, all one word, .co.uk. You can find our Strava training plans, our Spotify playlist, our diary of how it's all going, and of course a link to the donation page.
Presenter: I like that you can hear the playlist. What's the tune at the moment that's motivating you?
Jamie: I think I've got something like Rage Against the Machine, something to really get me going.
Presenter: Nice, very good. Big fan. Thank you both. We'd love to follow your journey and go along and see how you're getting on. So no doubt talk again. Thank you very much for being with us both this morning. All the very best. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, Ben. There we go, Jamie Waller and Ben Wood, who are taking on seven marathons in seven days across those seven disciplines, starting from the Shropshire Hills and finishing at the London Marathon finish line. That is quite something, isn't it? And hoping to raise £8,000 for the Institute of Cancer Research in memory of their very good friend Rory Allen. Sevenmarathons.co.uk for all the latest information. And as I mentioned, we'll keep tabs on Jamie and Ben's progress throughout the year, but it'd be great if you could get in touch and support them in whatever way you can.
The charity
We're completing this Seven Marathons Challenge for The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
The ICR is one of the world's most influential cancer research institutes, with an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. Every day they are finding innovative ways of detecting cancers, discovering new treatment options and producing life-changing research.
Every donation is a part of what keeps cancer research moving forward every day. They help fund the routine yet essential tasks that build toward major discoveries.
could pay for some PCR primers – short DNA sequences used to identify cancer-related genes.
Give £20could power a high-resolution microscope for an hour, enabling scientists to closely examine cancer cells and track how they respond to treatments.
Give £100Help us make the discoveries that defeat cancer.
Donate on JustGivingMoments
