A mother from Tresillian is preparing to take on the 2026 London Marathon for the first time in April.
Hannah Chapman is raising money for Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) in memory of her daughter, Maisie, who died before she was 6 months old.
Maisie had problems with her heart. She was unable to undergo a heart transplant due to her metabolic condition and died in 2018.
CHSW’s Little Harbour hospice in nearby St Austell has been a special, and vital, place for Hannah, Ben and their 2 sons Lowen and Theo, to remember Maisie.
For 39-year-old Hannah, the marathon has always been on her radar, especially after her husband Ben completed the world-famous run twice since their daughter died.
“I’ve always thought about doing it,” she said.
Ben has done it, but I was always at home with the kids. Now I’ve got a bit more time and feel slightly more energetic. And as I’m turning 40 this year, it feels like a good moment to complete it.
Sport, she admits, never came naturally.
I was never a sporty person, especially as a child. I really wasn’t into sports at all
“I did ‘Couch to 5k’ years ago, and bits of running on and off.”
After losing Maisie, both she and Ben found themselves running more often to cope. Together they completed events like the Bristol 10k and the Oxford Half Marathon in 2019.
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“That feels like such a long time ago now!” said Hannah.
Training for a full marathon, however, has been its own journey. “It’s very up and down. A friend of a friend gave me a schedule to follow, which helps, but the idea of running an entire marathon still seems completely insane now.
I’m nervous and excited. Everyone says the atmosphere on the day is incredible but the reality of it absolutely terrifies me.
Despite her husband’s past races, Hannah has never actually been to the London Marathon in person.
“The two times Ben ran it; I ended up missing both. Once because I was ill, and another year because our youngest, Theo, was unwell.” she said.
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Alongside training, Hannah has thrown herself into fundraising, with impressive results.
She hosted a charity evening at ‘Raze the Roof’ soft play in Penryn, one of the venues that regularly supports good causes with a monthly slot for people to hold a fundraising event. She also organised a bingo night at her local village hall.
“I couldn’t believe how much we raised,” she said. “I’d gone around the village delivering leaflets quite last minute, and I was shocked by how many people turned up, it was lots of people I’d never even met before.”
With her fundraising total already at £1,700 her final fundraising event, an afternoon tea in the spring, will bring her closer to her fundraising target of £2,250. On 26 April 2026, when she steps onto the start line in Greenwich, Hannah won’t just be running this marathon for herself. She’ll be running for her daughter Maisie and for many others who have supported her family.
“I’m running for Maisie but I’m also dedicating each kilometre to people I’ve met along the way,” she explained.
There’s an online community that helped me in the early days of my grief, and others we reached out to before she died. I want to run it for other people too.
She has already begun contacting supporters, asking which kilometre they would like her to run for them.