Masterchef contestants to ‘finish’ London Marathon in honour of Matt Campbell

Former Masterchef: The Professionals contestant Jamie Park and Tom Peters have organised a run in honour of the show’s semi-finalist, Matt Campbell, who died after collapsing during the London Marathon on 21 April.

Campbell was running to raise money for the Brathay Trust charity, in honour of his father who worked closely with the charity and died in 2016.

Since Campbell’s passing, his JustGiving page has exceeded £170,000 in donations.

The Cumbra native made it to the 22.5 mile mark of the marathon before collapsing. He was attended to by the race’s medics but later died in hospital.

He was just 3.7 miles short of the finishing line, which is the distance Park and Peters have arranged to run.

Park is the head chef at The Frog E1 and Peters is the senior sous chef at Roux at Parliament Square. They met Campbell when they all appeared on Masterchef: The Professionals in December 2017 and remained close since.

A few other runs are taking place in memory of Campbell, including #LetsRunForMatt organised by runners in Cumbria and another in London organised by the London Marathon Training Group 2018.

Peters said: “I met Matt in the MasterChef kitchen, and something that should have been so competitive and nerve-racking just became so fun and it was inspiring to work next to such an interesting chef.

“He was infectious with his passion, not only for cooking but for healthy eating and also running. He helped me massively with my preparation for the London marathon.”

He added: “The 3.7 miles we are running on Sunday is symbolic for Matt, as we’ll be finishing the rest of the marathon course for him. The #MilesForMatt has become a nationwide event taking place over the next week, with everyone involved donating to the Brathay Trust.”

The chefs have asked people taking part in #MilesForMatt to meet at 2pm at Shadwell Station on Sunday 29 April.