Well done to Rebecca Alford and nephew Matt Chambers from Portland who on Sunday 27th October, battling stormy weather and gusts of up to 30 knots,joined 25,000 others to run 10 wild miles around Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as part of the Great South Run.
Rebecca decided to run for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust after experiencing first hand the impact of the charities work, “My son Harry was diagnosed with ewing’s sarcoma in 2010 and went sailing with the Trust this summer. Harry had such a great time on the trip and when he came back he was like a different child, all the confidence that he had lost during treatment had come back and he was happy and full of himself again. I wanted to do something to give back to the charity.”
On a day when even the professionals struggled with the conditions, Rebecca crossed the finish line in an impressive 01h 24m 43s, she explains just how hard the conditions were, “I think I have run easier marathons than that! It was so difficult; as soon as you hit the eight-mile stretch you just couldn’t pick up the pace the wind was so strong. It was a lovely day the support of everyone at the Trust was fantastic and we raised a lot of money for a very good cause!”
Running with Rebecca and helping to raise money for the Trust was her nephew Matt. Not much of a runner Matt was surprised to cross the line in 01h 11m 58s, just seconds ahead of 400m Olympic Gold Medalist Iwan Thomas. “My aunty Becky and I were running today for her son Harry. I’ve never done a 10 mile race before so was aiming for about 1h 20m, I’m not really a runner and didn’t do much training just a lot of football, but I managed a 1h 11m race and for about three miles at the end I was running with Iwan Thomas and managed to beat him over the line at the end by a couple of seconds. “
The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is an Isle of Wight based charity that gives young people in recovery from cancer the chance to rebuild their confidence through sailing. Celebrating their 10 year anniversary, the Trust has grown beyond every expectation into a national charity. Working with every young person’s primary cancer care unit in the UK, taking young people aged between 8-24 who are recovering from cancer on four-day sailing trips.
Together Matt and his Aunty Becky have raised £355 for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust if you would like to make a donation please visit the links below –
Matt Chambers – http://www.justgiving.com/Matt-Chambers1
Rebecca Alford – http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=RebeccaAlford1
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