AP McCoy to run London Marathon to support charity

Champion jockey AP McCoy rode home a winner 4,358 times in a record-breaking career.

But a decade after retiring, the Grand National winner is planning to take part in one more race - but there will be no horses involved on this occasion.

Instead, McCoy will don his running shoes for his first-ever marathon in April, when he will act as a support runner for former England rugby player Matt Hampson.

Hampson, of Oakham in Rutland, set up the Matt Hampson Foundation after being paralysed from the neck down when a scrum collapsed during a training session. He hopes to raise £100,000 by taking part, with the assistance of a specialist racing chair and a support team, in the London Marathon.

McCoy, 51, from Northern Ireland, said: "I never ever had any desire to do a marathon before, ever, because I was such a selfish person when I was competing and I always thought, 'what's the point doing the marathon if you're not going to win it?'"

But McCoy had a change of heart after fellow jockey and close friend Graham Lee, himself a Grand National winner, broke his neck in a fall from a horse in 2023 and was also paralysed from the neck down.

Lee said: "It's very tough. There's been a lot. I keep going. I've got to, I have no choice.

"And I'm lucky. I have an amazing wife and family. They're the reason I keep going."

After leaving hospital, Lee was supported by the Matt Hampson Foundation, based at the Get Busy Living Centre in Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, and Lee said Hampson and his charity "saved his life".

Next year, to raise funds for his foundation, Hampson will compete in the London Marathon with a team of support runners, including McCoy.

Hampson will be trained to use a custom racing chair and associated medical equipment, which includes a back-up ventilator.

Tilly Cummings, clinical lead at the Matt Hampson Foundation, said Hampson would face the risk of pressure sores and would need to maintain his body temperature or risk autonomic dysreflexia - a condition which can increase the risk of brain haemorrhages and strokes.

Hampson, 41, a former Leicester Tigers academy player, said: "I've weighed up the options and weighed up the risk of the challenge, and I think it's worth that risk.

"I want to practice what we preach here, which is get busy living, and we've got so many beneficiaries who inspire me every day.

"I want to raise awareness of the foundation, and raise vital funds to keep us up running and doing what we do."

McCoy said: "I know what he's done for Graham and for a lot of other people, not just Graham."

He added: "If he's in the chair and it's making him laugh at three or four or five of us crying with pain, feeling the torture, the pain of pushing him around, then so be it.

"What have we got to complain about?"

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