Welsh football legend Aaron Ramsey is running in the London Marathon for charity

Welsh football great Aaron Ramsey hung up his boots earlier this month, but that didn’t mean he had to take it easy as on Sunday he will put on his running boots and take part in the London Marathon – for a good cause.

The 35-year-old former Arsenal and Juventus midfielder will run to raise money for It’s Never You, a charity founded by his friends Ceri and Frances Menai-Davis.

Their son Hugh died on September 18, 2021 at the age of six from the rare form of cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma.

Before announcing he was taking part in the marathon, Ramsey had already raised £25,000 (USD34,000) in previous years, saying his son used to play with Hugh.

“As a charity it is very close to my heart,” Ramsey said BBC Wales.

«I know Ceri and Fran and their family. I knew Hugh very well. My oldest boy, Sonny, is the same age and they always played together.»

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“I can’t imagine what they have been through and what they are going through now, but they have been an absolute inspiration to me, my family and many others.”

Ramsey, who capped 86 times and was a key member of Wales who reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 despite being suspended for the last four defeats to eventual champions Portugal, will be in the side alongside Ceri.

“They (Ceri and Frances) have done an incredible job in what they’ve done so far, and I know they’re just getting started,” Ramsey said.

“They have achieved so much, and it is very inspiring to see their drive and passion to try to make a difference in Hugh’s memory.

“Now that I’m retired, I have a little more freedom to do these things.”

‘The sadness weighs’

Ramsey, who won the FA Cup three times with Arsenal, said training for a marathon had been a completely different challenge.

“I’m excited,” he said.

“Training was difficult, when it’s raining and wet and windy, and it can be quite a lonely place at times.

“But I actually enjoyed it in a strange way, kind of being in the trenches.”

Hugh will be there, or at least his shoes will be hanging around Ceri’s shoulders – the pair he wore when he was admitted to hospital, but as Ceri said «unfortunately never came off».

Ceri will also have the names of 500 seriously ill children engraved on his back.

“He was the most amazing, brave, courageous young boy,” Ceri said.

“The reason I do marathons is that just before Hugh died, I stupidly registered myself for a marathon in 2021.

“I never thought I would get in, but I got in, started training for it and Hugh never saw me run that marathon because I did it two weeks after he died, and we buried him the next day with my medal.”

It is not the first marathon that Ceri has run with the shoes on his shoulders.

“I visited Paris with his shoes,” Ceri said.

“He never saw Paris, so I showed him the Eiffel Tower and we chatted the whole time.

“In London he will be there with me on my shoulders and we will cross the finish line together.”

The shoes will be significantly lighter than what he wore last year.

“I was carrying a 50-pound backpack, which was how much Hugh weighed when he died,” Ceri said. “That was to show how much grief weighs on you as a parent.”

Published on April 25, 2026