RAJA UK and the Stockholm Marathon 2023

After our triumphant conquering of the London Marathon, the RAJA UK team has set off for Sweden to get another cities marathon under our belts. Yes, this year we’re running the Stockholm Marathon and once again raising money for the Garden House Hospice. The team set off from RAJA HQ early on Thursday morning. Very early, with a 5AM kick-off meaning most of our runners had to beat the sun on the way out. Joined by our friends from Viking, they set off for the airport and jetted across to Stockholm.

Getting away early proved worthwhile with the team being the first across the line into the hotel! A good omen for the marathon? They were soon joined by the rest of RAJA’s runner with competitors from France, Germany and Italy, as well as the local RAJA Sweden and one singular runner from Poland. After a quick round of introductions, it didn’t take long for the different subsidiaries to all become fast friends.

Waking up early on Friday morning, the team quickly squeezed in a morning warm up run to get used to running in the new environment of Sweden. A quick jog around the park for a tune up, followed by a trip to the convention. With the bibs claimed, the team had the day to relax before the big race. A few set off to seek out some e-scooters and, after a quick spin around the park, formed the #scootergang. Sadly, it was confirmed by the Marathon staff, the scooters weren’t allowed for the race itself.

Soon enough, Saturday rolled around and the runners found themselves in the pack. As the running started, all those hours of training were soon going to become essential. The Stockholm marathon was quite competitive compared to the London experience the year before. A lot of runners achieved a sub 3 hour time, including one of our own RAJA Superstars from a subsidiary! For the UK team, George from the warehouse proved the quickest and further cemented the warehouse’s run of victories against the office in our friendly competition. And for the office team, the leader was our Fearless finance Director Olivier Wood who was the first to finish.

Slight shame they misspelled his name, but you can’t have everything.

With a well deserved victory under their belts, all that was left to do was celebrate! Every member of our RAJA Superstar team successfully finished the marathon and was now sporting a well deserved medal. Not to mention, we raised £5,000 for Garden Hospice Trust! The Donation Page is still active and if you were impressed by our runners clearing the Stockholm marathon, feel free to add to our total by clicking here. On behalf of everyone at RAJA, we’d just like to say a big well done to the runners for this fantastic achievement!