On Sunday 26 April 2026, Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK fielded its first-ever team at the TCS London Marathon. Four runners in SCA UK colours covered 26.2 miles through London on a warm spring day and raised a combined total of around £20,000 for survivors and co-survivors of cardiac arrest.
This page is a permanent record of the team and their stories. For the full race report, runner quotes, and photos from the day, read our post-event blog:
Team SCA UK London Marathon 2026: A Debut Worth Cheering →
Our Four Runners
Jonathan Gilbert
Jonathan is Managing Director of Defib Machines, official sponsor of Team SCA UK at the 2026 marathon. In conversation with trustee Gareth, he made an offhand offer: if anyone dropped out, he would run. Three weeks before race day, Robyn had to withdraw, and Jonathan was called upon to honour it. On minimal training and maximum determination, he completed the course and raised a four-figure sum on top of his company’s already generous sponsorship. As one donor put it: “You are all heroes.”
Nick Thomas
Nick is a GP in Oxfordshire and a cardiac arrest survivor. In August 2023, he collapsed during a dad’s football match and was resuscitated by a firefighter, a police officer, and a flight attendant who happened to be nearby. Three months later, he was back playing football. Since then, he has made CPR awareness his mission.
Nick joined Team SCA UK relatively late, so his fundraising had a sprint start. He turned his GP surgery into a fundraising station, doubled his target, and then went on to raise well past that. His later start time put him out in the hottest part of the day. His reflection afterwards was characteristic: “What a day and what a truck of money! My legs don’t work, I’ve sobbed to the wife, it’s all great. Hope that we represented the charity well!”
He did. Fewer than one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Of those who do, very few go on to run a marathon. Nick is an inspiration to every survivor wondering whether their future can still be expansive. It can.
Josce Syrett
Josce is a co-survivor. His father, Trevor, had a sudden cardiac arrest at home; Josce performed CPR himself and, thanks also to a nearby defibrillator and the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon, Trevor survived. What followed for Josce was isolating and difficult: panic attacks, withdrawal from family, his own time in hospital. SCA UK’s support for co-survivors helped him find a way through. Simply running 26.2 miles struck him as insufficient by way of thanks.
So he ran the Manchester Marathon the weekend before (2:51:16, a personal best despite cramp and a shattered phone), then cycled 416 kilometres from Manchester to Greenwich, then ran the London Marathon in 2:59:04. Two sub-three-hour marathons in successive weekends. Five hundred kilometres in eight days. He described it afterwards as “pretty steady, pretty consistent, pretty happy considering how horrific my legs felt from the gun.” We describe it as astonishing.
Phil Richards
Phil is a close friend of trustee Stuart Menzies and stepped in as a late replacement when the original team was reduced by injury and illness. He arrived at the start line carrying niggles his physio knew about and his wife did not. By mile 16 he was struggling and, in his own words, “started jeffing just to get me through.” He finished. He was also 112 days dry in the run-up, with plans to spend a generous portion of May in a pub. We could not begrudge him a single sip.
Phil’s reflection on the day says everything about the spirit of the team: “Yes we ran a marathon. However, the really hard work is done day in and daily by you fine people.”
A Note on Robyn Dwyer
Robyn Dwyer, a co-survivor running in support of her father (an SCA survivor and member of the SCA UK community), was due to run and had prepared with real enthusiasm. Sadly, health reasons forced her to withdraw before race day. Her fundraising page still reached four figures. Sometimes the marathon you do not run still moves people. We are grateful to Robyn, and hope to see her on a future start line.
Sponsor: Defib Machines
Defib Machines was the official sponsor of Team SCA UK at the 2026 TCS London Marathon. Founded in 2016, they are one of the UK’s leading providers of fully serviced AEDs. Their mission to make life-saving defibrillators accessible to everyone aligns closely with SCA UK’s work. We are deeply grateful for their support, and particularly to Jonathan Gilbert, who did not just sponsor the team but ran it.
Behind the Team
Joanna Balgarnie, SCA UK trustee and cardiac arrest survivor, organised the team and supported the runners through their preparation and fundraising. Joanna knows first-hand the power of peer connection: her own early involvement with SCA UK was, in her words, life-changing.
Tracy Swindell, co-survivor and former international marathon runner, served as running adviser throughout. Her personal best of 2:40:22 made her the third British woman home at the 1997 London Marathon. When she gives advice on pacing, you listen.
The Result
Four runners. One debut. Around £20,000 raised for survivors and co-survivors of sudden cardiac arrest. As trustee Gareth Cole put it: “We were hoping against hope for £2k per person, and we thought even that was optimistic. What you’ve all raised is just beyond comprehension. Still in awe of you all.”
The 2026 team set the bar. We intend to clear it.
Want to run for SCA UK at a future London Marathon? Find out about running for Team SCA UK or get in touch with us.