Olympic champion running London marathon for paralysed friend who signed up with her

For Olympic gold medallist Ros Canter, running the London Marathon in 2025 feels like fate. The event rider will be taking on the 26.2-mile course on the 27th of April, having first signed up alongside her friend and fellow rider Saffron Cresswell.

But when Cresswell was involved in an accident at Bramham Horse Trials in June 2024 that left her paralysed from the chest down, the marathon took on a new poignancy for Canter. She will follow in the footsteps of many event riders in using the event to raise money for Spinal Research.

“Two weeks after [Cresswell’s] accident, I got an email to say that I'd been unsuccessful in getting a ballot spot, but at the bottom of the email, there was ‘click here for any charity spaces’ option,” explained Canter.

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“I clicked on it and Spinal Research was the first one that came up. I was like, ‘Well, this is fate.’ So, I had to click that button. I left it for a few days and then I contacted Saffron. She was only recently in the hospital. I said there's absolutely no pressure, but this is what I've done and it's your shout, you tell me whether you want me to run or not.

“She said, ‘Yeah, we're doing it.’ So that was that. I had no option from then on, really.”

It has added a further commitment to what is already a gruelling schedule during which Canter, who won gold in Team Eventing in Paris 2024 on Lordships Graffalo, rides between eight and ten horses a day and looks after her five-year-old daughter.

She often finds herself getting up at 5.30am to fit in a run before heading out to the yard, where she is preparing to defend her Agria European Eventing Championship title in September, all while making sure she is free for the school run after 3pm. But despite the demanding schedule, Cresswell provides ample motivation for Canter to keep running.

“Saffron is a constant source of motivation in my training. There's a fair amount of pain associated with running long distances but every time I think about walking, Saffron pops into my mind,” she said. “I know that if she was running with me, she'd still be running because she's that determined.

“I also know that she would have loved to have been doing it with me. So, it's a great reason to carry on.”

Cresswell’s accident came as a stark reminder of the dangers of eventing, which sees horse and rider compete across three disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

But Canter is more determined than ever to keep going in Cresswell’s name.

“It knocked everyone [in eventing] hard. What happened to Saffron, does happen to people sometimes and so we're all really close knit — we all support each other,” she said. “I know right now if she suddenly could walk again, the first thing she would do would be to get back on a horse. She had no regrets.

“She's been amazing at moving on with her life and she still loves the sport. She still supports everybody in it so it's our job to keep going.”

On the big day, Canter will also be cheered on in the marathon by her biggest supporter, in the form of her five-year-old daughter Ziggy.

“Ziggy and Chris, my husband, will be coming to watch. I've probably spent more time seeing where the best place is for a child to watch than anything else,” she laughed.

“She'll be a bit of a handful, but she's determined she thinks she could run with me.”