Get behind our SmellTaste London Marathon runners, Sunday 26th April
We are very lucky this year to have two volunteers, Laura Paddison and Azhar Ahmad, running in aid of SmellTaste. Between them they have already raised an amazing £3,757!
Laura is recovering from Parosmia which for her meant all food tasted like a mixture of decay and sewage, making everyday eating an overwhelming challenge. Azhar has a close family member who is a beneficiary of the charity. He chose to support SmellTaste after learning about how this affected her. Until then, he had not appreciated how smell and taste impairment can impact the enjoyment of food and shared moments with friends and family.
With a week to go to the big day, we asked them some light-hearted questions about their motivation and how their training has been going.
You can read their stories here and sponsor them below.
London Marathon, 2026 Laura Paddison interview
London Marathon, 2026 Azhar Ahmad interview (to follow)
Azhar’s sponsorship page
Join us this Sunday to cheer Laura and Azhar on!
We are setting up a standing SmellTaste cheer-point at 25.5 miles, at Westminster on the Big Ben side of the road, where the course bends round to the right (see map). This has been recommended by last year’s SmellTaste runner Rick as a great place for runners to find the charity banners, and a great place for supporters to see the runners, shout and scream for their attention!
We welcome any of our followers, supporters and volunteers to join us here from 12 noon (lookout for the red SmellTaste logo), and we expect we might see our first runner pass between 1-2pm.
It’s going to be a wonderful day and we want our runners to feel every bit the superstars they are!
