An Army Reservist from Dorset is set to run the London Marathon in 2027 in support of Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.
Victoria Gray, 55, and from Dorchester, has been an Army Reservist for 23 years. She serves as a chef with 6th Battalion the Rifles. Prior to being a reservist, Victoria served in the regular Army as a dental assistant in the Royal Army Dental Corps from 1990 to 1993.
Victoria says:
“Being a reservist brings lots of other opportunities such as adventure training, sport, travel and meeting other like-minded people.
“I wanted to join the Reserves a few years after leaving the regular Army as I missed the camaraderie of the Army.”
This week marks Armed Forces Day on Saturday 27 June and Reserves have their own day to celebrate their service on Wednesday 24 June.
Victoria says:
“Armed Forces Day means that people continue to show their support and recognise our Armed Forces. It’s important that Reservists are recognised too as we give up our spare time to serve and train while balancing civilian life with a military career should our country need us.”
As part of the Armed Forces family, Victoria is committed to raising awareness and much needed funds for military charities. She ran the London Marathon in 2024 and 2025 for The Royal British Legion and the Army Benevolent fund. Victoria was due to run on behalf of Blind Veterans UK in 2026, but a sports injury forced her to defer her place.
She says:
“I have chosen to support Blind Veterans UK as their work to support vision-impaired ex-servicemen and women to rebuild their lives after sight loss is vitally important. I was really disappointed to have to defer my 2026 place, but I did manage to go to London to spectate, and I met some of the Blind Veterans UK running team and their guide runners which was inspirational and gave me the determination to get back and run in 2027.”
Victoria has just begun her fundraising and as a chef in the Reserves, she is planning on cooking up some delicious, themed meals such as curry nights and baking a lot of cakes for the military personnel in her unit to raise funds.
She is currently trying to build up her strength again after her injury by taking part in her local weekly parkrun and plans to commence her marathon training programme around 20 weeks prior to the event in order to build up to the distance week by week.
If you are inspired by Victoria you can visit the Blind Veterans UK website to find out how you could go about running the London Marathon for Blind Veterans UK: blindveterans.org.uk/londonmarathon
Blind Veterans UK supports thousands of blind veterans across the country, but knows there are many thousands more who still need its support to rebuild their lives after sight loss.
If you, or someone you know, served in the Armed Forces, including National Service, and are now struggling with sight loss, then please get in touch. Call 0800 389 7979 or visit blindveterans.org.uk/gethelp
