Moustaches and miles and miles of marathon training.

OS ‘Mo Bros’ Ali (PP,MJH,SuH, 99-11) & Oli Clift (PP,MJH,05-12) are training hard for the 2023 London Marathon in support of PSPA in memory of their beloved Grandfather.

After attending the College, the Clift family moved to Surrey and Ali and Oli joined Cranleigh School for the remainder of their school education. Ali graduated from University of Nottingham with a BA in History and an MSc in International Business, converting to a career in law and is a qualified lawyer at Ashurst in London. Oli graduated with a BSc in Psychology from the University of Liverpool and is currently enrolled at Saint Marys University Twickenham studying a Sports Psychology Master’s Degree.

Ali reflects on their motivation to take on the marathon challenge and the challenge of growing rather fabulous moustache’s at the same time:

‘We are running in memory of our grandad, Alf Clift, who lost his long fight to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). PSP is a little known disease, sometimes misdiagnosed for Parkinson’s. PSP for Alf gradually restricted him more and more as it took hold. Sadly for much of his fight, Grandad struggled to move outside of his chair, talk and eat. However, he fought hard and remained steadfast by the side of his beloved Edna for so long.

Oli and I are motivated to put ourselves through the London Marathon in his memory and in support of PSPA, and we will be driven by the fact that any pain in training or the real thing will be minimal compared to Grandad’s experience.

One of the last things Grandad lost in his fight with PSP was his moustache. He sported this from age 21 and so, to honour Grandad in one of the best ways we can, Oli and I will be growing moustaches as well as running. We started in December (when we were meant to start training…!) and we will hopefully grow taches that Grandad would be proud of.’

Ali & Oli would be hugely grateful for any donations in support of their fundraising efforts for the charity so close to their hearts. Their Justgiving page can be found here.

Hoping the weather and miles are kind to our very own OS Mo Bros during the London Marathon on Saturday 23rd April!