On 6th January 2011, husband and wife team Sergeant Doug Hamilton, Military Provost Guard Service and Senior Aircraftswomen Fiona Hamilton, RAF Flight Operations Assistant, Air Traffic Control, flew out to Florida to compete in the ‘Goofy Challenge’.

This challenge consisted of a half marathon on the 8th of January, followed by a full marathon on 9th January, with both runs being completed within certain time constraints to complete the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World resort. The half marathon event attracted 27000 runners with the pair completing the run with Doug finishing in 1hr and 57mins and Fiona finishing in 2hrs and 17mins. The following day the couple lined up with 17000 runners for the Marathon. Fiona finished the race in 4hrs and 53mins with Doug completing the distance in just over 5hrs.

Doug said, ‘as we are both in the military, and currently based at RAF Shawbury, we decided to run for the charity SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Air Force Association), which is celebrating its 125th year of fund raising. We both enjoyed the challenge and raised over £200 for SSAFA. Both of us are active members of our local running club, Shropshire Shufflers and we are both competing in the April 2011 Virgin London Marathon.’