Meet Liane: The woman running the London Marathon for Money Ready

Finding her feet

Liane has always been sporty, but running is a more recent pastime for the mum-of-four from Bromley. “I started running to keep my eldest daughter company on parkruns when she was working towards a Duke of Edinburgh Award,” she says. “It’s become an important part of my life.”  

After moving house to the Greater London borough, Liane joined Petts Wood Runners. “It was a great way to get to know people while settling into the area,” she says. “I then joined the Croydon Harriers, another running club, and I hardly ever run on my own. The members are all really sociable. People don’t want to go to the pub and drink – they want to go for a run and get coffee and cake afterwards.” She laughs. “Cake is a massive incentive.” 

The running itself is satisfying too. “You can make really good gains in running,” she comments. “You get out what you put in.”  

An active life 

Liane grew up with her mum, dad and younger brother in a village in North Wales. “I’m lucky I came from a family that was very educated about finance,” she says. “Mum worked in a bank, Dad worked in IT and my brother ended up becoming an accountant. After leaving uni, I went straight into my first finance job as an analyst for an investments firm.” 

Liane is now a senior quantitative analyst at global investment management firm Barings, where she’s been working since 2017. “The way I look at it, getting credit is borrowing from your future self. There’s nothing wrong with that if you know what you’re doing, and that’s where financial education comes in. I’ve always tried to be smart with my money and make it work for me through the power of compound returns.” 

As a child she loved playing tennis, football and cricket with the other youngsters in the village, as well as doing gymnastics and ice skating. “I didn’t skate for a long time, then started again in 2015,” she says. “My eldest daughter loved skating too and we both got pretty good in the Solo Ice Dancing category. My daughter won Under 10 British championship in 2018, and I got bronze in the Adult category.” 

When the Covid 19 pandemic closed rinks, they found other ways to stay active. “Now we do a parkrun every Saturday. We have friends at every parkrun in the area.” 

Liane is aware of the huge difference between a 5k parkrun and a marathon. “I ran my first half-marathon in November 2024, and ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon to help raise funds for Money Ready in 2025,” she says. “I’m doing as many half marathons and longer runs as I can between now and April to increase my stamina.” 

Preparing for the biggest run of her life

Recent runs have included the South East Cross Country Championships, the Serpentine 5k, Dorney Lake Half, Crystal Palace Half to name just a few. “There always seem to be loads of good events in the spring and I find it very hard to say no if someone asks me to run with them!” 

With her running clubs, Liane tackles longer runs every Sunday. “I’m using these to build up distance, and doing shorter runs in the week,” she says. “It’s quite structured training plan, which is vital to prepare for the 26.2-mile marathon. Even walking that far is difficult. I usually run with at least one or two people to make help the miles pass.”  

Money Ready is a cause close to Liane’s heart. “Young people often leave home without knowing how to budget and live within their means,” she says. “Money Ready held a taster day at the Barings office and I recently observed a Money Ready workshop at the London Transport Museum all about digital money scams. I could see the kids were really engaged. Financial education is integral to your whole life – what you do with money in your 20s impacts your 30s and 40s. You need to understand money to have a hope of a strong financial future, and that’s what Money Ready offers.” 

When asked what one thing she’s done to help her own children’s money literacy, Liane doesn’t hesitate.  

“All my kids have Junior ISAs, and they choose how much of their money to put in. Luckily, they like seeing it go up!” 

She confesses to being more than a little nervous about her upcoming challenge for Money Ready. 

“I always said I would never run a marathon because it’s so far, but I know the atmosphere in London is amazing – with all the noise and music, it’s; such a massive party you barely even notice you’re running! So, I’m making an exception for the London Marathon and Money Ready.” 

With such energy and determination, we have no doubts Liane will ace her first marathon for Money Ready! The London Marathon takes place on Sunday 26th April 2026. 

You can support Liane’s London Marathon run for Money Ready by following this link.