Why ACI Director Ravi Is Running the London Marathon

You do not need a personal reason to understand why Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex matters. Spend even a moment learning about the charity and its role across the region, and it becomes clear just how vital that support is. KSS describes itself as the local air ambulance charity for Kent, Surrey and Sussex, responding to an average of nine emergency calls a day and relying heavily on public support to keep flying and saving lives.

That is exactly why ACI Director Ravi has chosen to take on the TCS London Marathon 2026 in aid of the charity. His JustGiving page says he is running the marathon on 26 April 2026 to help save lives across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Ravi originally set himself the challenge of raising enough to cover the cost of a single mission £4,500. It was an ambitious and meaningful target, designed to turn every mile of training into something tangible. And the response has been incredible. At the time of writing, Ravi’s JustGiving page shows £4,784 raised, already moving beyond that milestone and edging closer to his overall £5,500 target.

Behind every fundraising total, however, is the work that goes into getting to the start line. Marathon training is never simple. It is not just about fitness. It is about routine, resilience, self-belief and the ability to keep going when things do not go to plan.

A calf injury meant Ravi had to stop running completely for a period. For anyone training toward an event as demanding as the London Marathon, that kind of interruption can be frustrating, worrying and mentally draining. When momentum matters, being told by your body to slow down is not easy to accept.

There are good weeks and tough weeks, setbacks and comebacks, doubts and breakthroughs. Progress often comes from knowing when to pause as much as when to push. And then came another honest reminder of what marathon training really demands.

Ravi has shared that one of his longer runs became a huge mental challenge. From the outset, it felt like a slog. Sometimes that happens in marathon training: the legs do not feel quite right, the kilometres seem longer than they should, and the finish line of the session appears far away almost from the start. It is in those moments that the marathon reveals itself for what it really is. Not just a physical test, but a mental one too. That challenge became even more real when Ravi took a fall at 27.5km.

With one more long run to go before the taper begins, Ravi is now edging closer to marathon day. There is still work to do, but the finish line is coming into view.

Why does this matter so much to Ravi? Because KSS is not funded like many people assume. The charity says it costs over £45,000 a day and over £20.8 million a year to run its life-saving service, with 91% of that income coming from supporters through donations and fundraising. In other words, people like Ravi and the people backing him.

Every donation becomes part of something real. It helps fuel a service that exists for the moments nobody can predict and everybody hopes they never need. It helps keep highly skilled teams ready to respond when every second counts. And it turns one person’s marathon effort into a community-backed act of support for a charity that serves millions of people across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Everyone at ACI is incredibly proud of Ravi for the commitment, honesty and determination he has shown throughout his training. He has kept going through injury setbacks, tough runs and the mental load that comes with marathon preparation all while continuing to raise money for a genuinely life-saving cause.

If you are able to support him, now is a brilliant time to help him push even closer to that £5,500 goal on his JustGiving page.