London Marathon hailed a success in more ways than one for local couple

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26 April 2024

Last Sunday, the London Marathon saw a record 50,000 runners, including 107 that ran for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. However, a special surprise for Zak Yates stole the show.

Zak lives in Fleet, Hampshire, and Sunday was his third London Marathon and third time running for SSAFA. His partner of two years Kayla was rooting for him, holding a sign for Zak to see as he crossed over Tower Bridge and turned down Lower Thames Street. As he approached the cheering section Kayla flipped the sign over to reveal a different message with the surprise of a lifetime: “Zak I’m pregnant”.

Zak recalled: “Kayla had actually made a different sign the night before that said ‘Let’s go Zak’ or something like that. But when I went out that night, she must have made a second sign, which she did a good job hiding from me.”

Zak stopped briefly to share a hug with Kayla, but with three miles to go he took off to finish the race. Zak ended up finishing with a time of 03:44:05. “The last three miles felt pretty surreal. I really wanted to sprint to the end to meet her as soon as I could, but I needed to stick to my training and keep my pace”.

Zak has chosen SSAFA to give back to service members like his parents, who are retired officers in the British Army, both having served 30 years in the Medical Corps.

In total the SSAFA runners were able to raise an impressive £211,000 which will enable SSAFA to continue providing critical support to service members and their families.