Putting charity in running for boost Alistair Malcolm had lived his whole life with haemophilia, without suffering any serious effects. Last year, however, the 43-year-old suffered a bleed in one of the main arteries in his abdomen. It was so serious that his life was only saved by a transfusion of 11 pints of blood. The father-of-two from Penicuik was in hospital for a month and still has a blood clot as a result of the transfusion. As he slowly regains his health, his wife, Jane, 42, is taking on three sporting challenges to raise money for the Haemophilia Society, which has supported the whole family through the ordeal. She has already completed the Rock "n" Roll Half Marathon, will take on next month's Edinburgh Marathon and the Peebles Sprint Triathlon in June. Mrs Malcolm said her husband had suffered from the blood clotting disorder throughout his life, but the bleed came out of the blue when it struck in January 2011. "We don't really know what caused it - there was nothing obvious," she said. It was tough for the whole family - for a week it was touch and go. We've got two children, so I had to try and keep them going. The staff in the Haemophilia Centre in Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary [and] the staff on the high-dependency unit were amazing. Because it is difficult to say thank you enough to everyone who was involved in Alistair's care I asked Alistair who he thought I should fundraise for, and he said The Haemophilia Society in Scotland as they offer support, advice and back up the fantastic work that the Haemophilia Centre carry out. Mr Malcolm added: "The Haemophilia Centre have been brilliant. We thought the Haemophilia Society is quite low-profile and it would be good to help raise its profile. Mrs Malcolm's fundraising is being boosted by the efforts of Tracey Joyce, her friend and colleague as an early years lecturer at Telford College. Ms Joyce was recently diagnosed with diabetes and has picked her own sporting challenges to improve her health and help raise funds. She has cycled up Mont Ventoux, which is part of the Tour de France route, will join her friend on the triathlon, and will take on the Edinburgh to St Andrews Cycle Ride. The pair originally aimed to raise £500, but have already topped that. Bill Wright, convener of Haemophilia Scotland, said: "The challenges Jane is taking on are truly inspiring. The money she is raising is vital to our services and will make a huge difference to our ability to support people. To sponsor the two visit www.justgiving.com/twotacklethree. The Young Ones KATE Lamb knew that whatever had happened the previous night to make her fall off her bar stool, it was raising medical eyebrows. Edinburgh marathon results Names and times of all those who completed the course in over 4 hours and 15 minutes, and those who failed to record a time. Edinburgh Fringe special: August's hottest shows Take 16 arts writers and a record-breaking 2,088 shows. Arts editor ANDREW EATON explains how our Top 60 list came about Drink-driving banker walks free A DRUNK banker who left a young woman crippled for life after driving a 4x4 into oncoming traffic while distracted by her dog on the passenger seat was spared jail yesterday. Books of the year: Writers' choice TO launch our three-part round-up of the most engrossing reads of 2009, we asked our favourite writers for their festive gift advice