“It will be really difficult, no question, but I’m thrilled that I am running the London Marathon for the Golf Foundation. Helping more youngsters to enjoy golf is a fantastic aim. I’m also running in memory of my Dad, Charles Harrison, who did so much for the game we all love. So this run is for all the golfers out there.”
Mark Harrison, aged 46, knows the London Marathon will be a gruelling physical and mental test, while each stride will celebrate golf, and its players, in the past and the future.
Mark will also be the first person to run this marathon to raise funds for the Golf Foundation. And he is running in memory of his father, a man respected by so many across the sport of golf. There will be many who knew Charles Harrison who will be keen to support Mark’s run.
Charles died aged 73 in 2022 following a short illness. No-one appreciated the great game’s life-affirming values more than he did. Charles served as Chairman of the Golf Foundation between 2009 and 2016. He was actually coached as a boy by the Foundation; winning the Cambridgeshire County Championship at the age of 16, and he would go on to captain Cambridge University Golf Club.
You can read the Golf Foundation’s tribute to Charles here.
His intelligence and unique people skills took him far in industry in his career, while on the golf course Charles was a fervent believer in the game’s ability to instil life skills such as confidence, resilience and focus in children of all abilities, and to provide joy and friendship to its young players. This philosophy is at the core of the Golf Foundation, and why Mark Harrison has volunteered to raise funds for the charity by running 26.2 miles of London’s pavements on April 26th.
“My Dad loved golf, everything about the game, and he also loved people, I think the two are connected for many of us,” says Mark. “After finishing his career Dad said helping the Golf Foundation and The R&A to grow awareness of the sport, and help the next generation, was a dream retirement for him. He loved talking about the game but he was so interested in people. We lost count of the times in a restaurant when the meal was over but he would still be chatting to the waiters. If I can now help the Golf Foundation a little like he did, and raise funds for their great work while remembering Dad, it will feel like a privilege.”
Mark added that he and his mother, Sarah Harrison, had very fond memories of attending the Golf Foundation Awards recently at Wentworth. “It has been lovely for us both to meet others who respected him so much and I know my Mum always enjoyed supporting my Dad at events like The Open as he did his bit for the Foundation and The R&A.
“He embodied so much about golf being a friendly sport, and the fun of different generations playing together. I wasn’t at all surprised when he brought home sets of plastic clubs for our three daughters to try. I’m not the standard of golfer my Dad was but I am sure he’d be proud of me running for the Golf Foundation.”
Charles certainly wouldn’t have been backward in asking others to give generously to help young golfers via a Golf Foundation donation.
Back in 2009 as Foundation Chairman, Charles applied his business acumen gained in the UK energy industry to support the charity when it was under significant financial pressures in a recession, guiding the team forwards.
Today, fundraising remains a massive requirement for the Golf Foundation, whose programme ‘Unleash Your Drive’ has seen more than 2,000 schools register their interest to help change the face of mental wellbeing in schools by introducing golf to children from all backgrounds, a campaign championed by the charity’s current President Nick Dougherty.
At club level the charity’s GolfSixes League (mixed teams of six youngsters, playing six holes in pairs using the highly inclusive Texas Scramble format), was played last year by 700 clubs and 9,000 players in over 100 local leagues across all of the Home Nations.
Golf Foundation CEO Brendon Pyle said: “Our team is really delighted that Mark has chosen us as his official charity for the London Marathon. Today we have programmes that are helping to redefine how golf is viewed as a sport and how it can help youngsters from all walks of life, especially in terms of their wellbeing and confidence. Charles Harrison understood this and was a great ambassador for us. For our charity’s work to continue to progress we really do need more funds to help, we rely on this support, so we feel very privileged that Mark is here to help us via his London Marathon run.”
Mark meanwhile has to be focused on his running for now, and not his golf: he plays off around a 13 handicap index (his mates at Ashridge Golf Club in Hertfordshire have shown their support). “My training has gone well. I got into running again when Covid arrived. So I get the train to Marylebone and run the 5km there and back to the East End where I work. This is my second London Marathon and I know the nerves will be there, But thinking about the story around my run will help me get round.”
Brendon Pyle added: “Charles helped and supported so many people in golf with his advice, wisdom and humour – he had a great zest for life and has been greatly missed by many people working in the world of golf administration. He would be so proud of his son Mark running the London Marathon for the Golf Foundation.”
Click Here To Support Mark’s Run, And Help Celebrate The Legacy Of Charles Harrison
