Harry Redknapp announces new role as manager of Team BHF

Football legend Harry Redknapp has announced he’s coming out of retirement. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth manager will be dusting off his managerial skills to lead our team of more than 1,600 runners at the 2022 TCS London Marathon on Sunday 2^nd October.

In his role as Team BHF manager, Harry, aka The Gaffer, is calling on all those who were successful in securing a ballot place for the 2022 TCS London Marathon to join Team BHF. As Charity of the Year for the 2022 TCS London Marathon we are aiming to raise £3 million for pioneering research into regenerative medicine to help heal hearts across the UK. This research could one day find a cure for heart failure.

Harry has his own personal reason for supporting our charity. Back in 2011 he had pain in his chest due to the arteries supplying his heart muscle becoming blocked.  He describes himself as ‘one of the lucky ones’ but, not everyone is as lucky. 

Find out why Harry has taken on the role

Harry said: “About ten years ago, I had chest pains and tests showed I had blocked arteries. Now I’m one of the lucky ones as I got the warning signs, got a diagnosis, and got sorted out with an angioplasty and a couple of stents. But not everyone gets that chance. Many people are missing out on years of their life or living with pain and suffering that stops them having a decent quality of life.

“That’s why I’m urging everyone who has been successful in getting a London Marathon ballot place to use it to run for the British Heart Foundation and raise money to help heal hearts. The transfer window might have closed but there’s still space for you on Team BHF. Together we can give hope to hundreds of thousands of people living with incurable heart failure.”

Harry's new signings 

Harry will be heading up our London Marathon Support Squad. The team (pictured below) has been assembled to give our runners the support and encouragement they need to cross the finish line on 2^nd October. Joining Harry in the Support Squad is former Olympian Greg Whyte OBE, Mr Motivator, sleep scientist Dr Sophie Bostock and our very own Heart Health Dietitian Tracey Parker.

Among those running for us is Pete Robertson, 49,a father-of-three from Nottinghamshire. A regular runner, Pete had completed a half ironman two weeks before he suffered a heart attack in November 2019. Unfortunately, the heart attack caused lasting damage to Pete's heart, which could lead to heart failure.

Pete said: “I feel very lucky that I have been able to get my fitness back. I try not to think about what it could mean for my heart in the future. You don’t realise you can be at risk of heart failure once you’ve had a heart attack. I want to take on the 2022 TCS London Marathon for the British Heart Foundation to raise funds to help heal hearts like mine.”

The scale of heart failure

Heart failure can be caused by many different conditions and occurs when a person's heart is unable to pump blood around their body efficiently, because the muscle of the heart has become weaker. It is often a long-term consequence of damage caused by a heart attack, which means that as heart attack survival rates have improved, more people have gone on to develop life-limiting heart failure.

In its severest form, heart failure has a survival rate that is worse than many cancers and can be so debilitating that everyday tasks, like climbing a flight of stairs, become a struggle.

Nearly a million people in the UK are living with heart failure. The money raised by runners will help the BHF fund ground-breaking research projects taking place at multiple universities across the UK. This cutting-edge research into regenerative medicine could lead to currently unimaginable treatments and cures for people with heart failure within a generation.

Join Team BHF by using your ballot place take on the 2022 TCS London Marathon and help us heal hearts.

Sign up to be part of Team BHF