However, one Islander decided to spend Sunday raising money for a local charity and honouring the memory of his father – who died on 9 May 30 years ago in 1991.
Ed Devenport, son of former Victoria College headmaster Martyn, completed a Liberation Day marathon and raised more than £14,000. He completed the feat in three hours and 52 minutes as a tribute to his father, who served as the school’s head teacher for almost 24 years.
Mr Devenport, a partner at the law firm Mourant Ozannes (Jersey) LLP, decided to mark the 30th anniversary of his father’s death by completing his first marathon – raising money for Jersey Hospice Care in the process.
The charity cared for his late father in his final months.
And Mr Devenport, who was accompanied on the run by his nephew, Ed, and his daughter’s boyfriend, Will Pearson, said he was ‘really happy’ that he achieved his goal of completing the marathon in under four hours.
He said: ‘It was a really joyful and uplifting day. What could have been something quite sombre turned out to be a celebration of my father. Having family and friends supporting at various points and additional people joining for certain legs of the run really spurred me on and made it an amazing occasion.’
Mr Devenport ran from Gorey to St Ouen while passing places of significance along the way.
This included Victoria College, the school he attended as a pupil while his father was headmaster, and the pub where he had his first date with his wife.
He said that his training had put him in good stead for the occasion but admitted that he was walking ‘a bit funny’ afterwards.
‘We kept a fairly good pace throughout, averaging eight-and-a-half minutes per mile.
‘However, the last two miles the wheels fell off a bit and I started struggling. We ended up walking a small section of the last mile ,as I realised I could still make it in sub-four hours,’ he said.
‘I don’t think I will be rushing to complete a marathon again soon but I would like to focus on running shorter distances in as little time as possible.’
Mr Devenport said he was ‘delighted’ that he exceeded his original fundraising target of £10,000.
‘We are already well past the target and we still have a few more donations to come,’ he said.
‘It is a charity that is very close to home and it has been absolutely brilliant to raise this money, which will be an amazing result for them.’
Anyone still wishing to donate can do so by visiting justgiving.com/fundraising/edward-devenport.
