Tarzans Bananathon: I'll 'ave 'alf (Saturday August 30th)

Mission accomplished, a cracking night, plenty of money raised and a fair few glitches discovered that we can learn from for the full bananathon.

Chafing. I don't know about Jane and the banana, but I have six patches of broken skin, mainly where my Ivy rubbed.

Make up. Jane's make up came off pretty early in the run and his/her eyes smarted throughout.

Numbers. The numbers smudged and ran. The tip of the banana's head rubbed nearly all the ink off Tom's number leaving just 'ARZ' visible on his back. Laminating will fix this.

Bananas Head. The top of the banana drooped down, it needs a cardboard cone inside and a visor to keep it off Tom's face. The mass of yellow also needs branding with charity details.

Text to Number. I don't think one person texted the number all night. We need a strategy to fully utilise this, particularly at places like the Moon Under Water where there will be a lot of people who can't physically reach a bucket.

Hand out cards. We really need something on paper to give people to tell them what it is all about. As soon as we mentioned that we were collecting for Leukaemia Research and that Tom was in remission having had Lymphoma people reached in their pockets

Bucket carriers. We need a couple of runners in LRF t shirts following the trio with buckets to collect after we have passed. We found that people wanted to give even when driving past in cars or barges (on the canal). If us three stop to collect it will slowus down and make us late for the visits.

Drinks. It was really thirsty work. Tom had never drunk so much on a run. We need a support vehicle just for fuel.

Timekeeping. It was nigh on impossible to keep an eye on the time even when only chatting to people in a pub. We need a timekeeper and a minutes warning after nine minutes at the venue to ensure we leave on time.

A massive thank you to all the venues who took part, particularly The Railway for providing us with a start, finish tape and mountain of butties after the run. Louise Makin really did us proud.

Along with Tarzan, Jane and the Banana running the 13 mile plus course were Stockport Harriers Andy, Brian, Lee and Simon and Railway regulars Carl and Mike. Thanks to them all for their support. Brian was a particularly good 'Enforcer' when it came to collecting, I am going to hire him for my son when he goes to collect his paper round Christmas tips.

We left bang on six o'clock and within minutes had our first donation with a cyclist on the Middlewood Way riding a good half a mile just to give us some money. I soon realised that in the exitement I hadn't pressed start on my stopwatch, but knew that we had to be at The Dandy Cock by 6.40pm. The response on the A6 was amazing with every other car beeping their horn in support. If we could just turn those beeps into donations.

At the Dandy Cock in Disley we met a real character in the shape of Ingrid. She took a shine to Jane and also to the ghost, quipping 'This is the first time I've had the Willies put up me in ages', along with a whole host of other racy gags. We were made very welcome there and at the White Lion in Disley where a few of us had a stab at the real ale, gorgeous.

On to New Mills and the Beehive where Ruth had brought some pasta to help us practice eating on the move. Several friendly faces turned up here and later made their way to the Railway at the end. The Hare and Hounds gave us a typical Ruuffell family welcome, Mike had never been in the pub before but was totally taken with the Elvis Room. Lee became a fan for llife when the DJ played Superchannel by The Alarm for him and I served behind the bar for a spell and gave a poor renditon of 500 miles. James had encouraged a regular, Shaun, to dress in just undies, collar and cuffs a few weeks before and they generously gave the nearly £150 they collected to LRF. Fantastic.

Five minutes behind then and a long run to the Crown at Hawk Green along the Peak Forset Canal. We picked the pace up along here in the failing light but still arrived at the newly refurbished pub after our target time. After a drink and a chat we moved on to Marple Conservative Club where I sang King Of The Swingers and was joined in a slightly better version of 500 Miles by Jane and the banana whose 'dance' steps wowed the packed room. The chairman of the club presented a cheque for £50 and a collection yeilded in excess of a hundred pounds more.

Onwards then, back to The Railway where we were met by a big crowd of supporters, some much needed food and drink and an aerial display from some UFO's.

Thanks again to everybody involved. I will put a total of the money collected up on the blog on Monday and then add that to the money on the justgiving site.

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we all enjoyed the night.