February 2010 Newsletter
News
Former Olympic athlete Steve Cram joined Mike Tomlinson in Blackburn and York for the latest Run For All event launches - the inaugural Jane Tomlinson’s Pennine Lancashire 10K and the second Jane Tomlinson’s York 10K.
The Pennine Lancashire 10K will be held on Sunday July 11th and the 2010 Jane Tomlinson’s York 10K will be held on Sunday August 1st.
Mike Tomlinson said:
“In creating Run For All, Jane wanted others to share the excitement and fulfilment she had experienced in participating in fundraising events. Now 5,000 people have the chance to share that experience in Pennine Lancashire and hopefully raise thousands of pounds for local charity.
“Last year’s York 10K was a fantastic success. Places sold-out in a matter of weeks and the atmosphere on race day was truly amazing. We were delighted that the event raised more than £150,000 for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal and the event partner charities. We are hoping this year’s event will be even bigger and better.”
The inaugural Pennine Lancashire 10K run will take place in Blackburn and will start and finish from the stunning 480-acre Witton Park, Blackburn. The course will take in the highlights of the historic town centre, passing King George’s Hall, the spectacular Grade II listed Cathedral and over the iconic Wainwright Bridge.
The stunning York 10K course, which starts and finishes at the Racecourse, takes runners past York Minster, through the historic city centre streets and along the River Ouse, last year sold out all 5,000 places. Run For All has applied to increase the 2010 event to 8,000 places.
All Run For All events are not for profit, community events for people of all abilities to take part and raise money for whatever cause is important to them.
The Jane Tomlinson Appeal, which supports children’s and cancer charities, will also have a number of national and local partner charities which will share profits from the events.
The partner charities of the Pennine Lancashire 10K are: The Christie, COCO, Derian House and East Lancashire, Pendle and Rossendale hospices.
In York the partner charities will again be COCO, Macmillan, Martin House and Sparks.
COCO founder and Olympic legend Steve Cram MBE said:
““I am proud to be associated with the events and hope the cause and most importantly the memory of such a special lady like Jane Tomlinson will motivate everyone to want to take part. Whether you're a veteran to road races or a first timer, I look forward to seeing you all there. Please give your full support to the events.”
BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration was among the runner’s for last year’s York 10K.
Harry Gration said:
“I was so thrilled to be involved last year and witness such a fabulous event. Running around my home City and being overtaken by thousands, everyone said how special it was. The run past the Minster was my highlight, but the best memory came from the thousands of people who cheered from the streets and commented on the stupid shorts I was wearing! Let's make this year's even better for the lady, and family we all have a special affection for.”
Celebrity Interview
Steve Cram MBE
Run For All is honoured to have the support of athletics legend Steve Cram MBE. This week, Steve launched both the 2010 Jane Tomlinson’s Pennine Lancashire 10K and York 10K. The events will help raise money for his charity COCO, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary helping children across the world. Read more in this month’s Run For All celebrity interview....
You have an Olympic Silver and six Commonwealth Gold medals and are one of the world’s most successful middle-distance athletes. What do you think has been your greatest achievement?
I’d probably have to say my three World Records in 19 days. Being the first athlete to achieve that meant a lot and this year is the 25th anniversary of those three special records. If I had to pick one out of the three, it would have to be breaking Seb Coe’s mile WR in Oslo, while Seb was in the race. Made up for finishing 2nd behind him the year earlier!
What was it like winning the Silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles?
Obviously now on reflection, winning an Olympic medal is an amazing achievement and one I’m very proud of. However at the time I was running for gold as I did in every race I took part in. A certain Seb Coe came home with that though! Given the injury stricken year I’d had in 1984, I guess to come home with silver wasn’t bad. The medals are kept in a drawer in the house, I guess it’s the memories that mean more to me.
Who is your current favourite runner? And your tip for the next big thing?
Internationally it has to be Usain Bolt. He’s been a breath of fresh air in the sport, bringing such character back into athletics. He’s so entertaining and yet once he’s in full flow on the track he’s a dream to watch. A true living legend. In the UK we have some really exciting youngsters coming through the ranks motivated a lot by having a home Olympic Games to compete in. Jodie Williams is one young lady who I hope can build on her clear talent. At the age of 15 she’s already a double World Youth champion, although it may not be in London where we’ll see her on the podium, 2016 in Rio will be perfect for her.
Do you still run?
Not as much as I’d like to. My aging body doesn’t seem to let me do as much these days, so I need to find other ways to keep fit, like the rowing machine or cycling around Northumberland, where I live. An athlete always misses the thrill of competition, but I’ve found that I still structure my life as I did as an athlete. Set goals and targets and work hard to achieve them, although the ultimate test of a race is missing!
What led you to set up COCO?
I’ve always been involved in supporting a number of charities, but at the end of the ‘90’s I was approached by the Army Air Corps peace keeping force. They wanted to reinact the famous Comrades Marathon, a 56 mile race which occurs in South Africa every summer. I flew out to help the guys with some publicity and was only meant to start the race. I ran all 56 miles with them and although we raised a small amount of cash for them to buy school equipment for the war torn village they’d been based in, we felt we could do more if we followed it up a year later by running in the real Comrades Marathon, which we did. Born out of that was COCO, Comrades of Children Overseas. We started in 2000 and now 10 years on we have projects all over the world, working on closely monitored education and healthcare initiatives that make a big difference to the lives of children living in poverty throughout the developing world. COCO has since raised over £1.3 Million, helping to fund children’s projects in developing countries, primarily in Africa. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a hands-on approach to charity, raising funds and knowing exactly where it will be spent and where it will make a huge difference.
You recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with COCO. It must have been an amazing experience.
Without doubt it’s up there as one of my greatest achievements. It was an amazing week back in November 2009. Twenty-eight of us attempted the tough six day climb and 21 actually reached the summit. Sadly for me we didn’t have that spectacular blue sky summit, as it snowed constantly on our final night as we ascended. All that that has done is encourage me to agree to go back for a second time in February 2011 to make sure I get to see the sun rising over Africa. To top it off we got to visit the COCO projects that sit in the shadows of the Mountain. Just what we all needed for added inspiration.
How did you get involved with Run for All?
I had the pleasure of meeting Jane Tomlinson after the first London marathon she completed back in 2002. Like many thousands of others I was completely in awe of her achievements and her courageous battle. Over the following years I felt lucky enough to call Jane and Mike good friends and supported her challenges as much as I could. When they told me about Jane’s plans for the 10K Run For All in Leeds I was proud to accept the role as patron of the Leeds 10K and it was so fitting for Jane to be able to see the race come to fruition. There’s no better way to remember an amazing lady with the Run For All series and here memory will always live on in the success of the 10K events.
Runner's Blog
The inaugural Jane Tomlinson’s Hull 10K is now only four months away and among the thousands already in training are the Cottingham Fitmums and Friends.
The group was started by Sam Barlow from Cottingham, East Yorkshire, simply as a way of finding someone to run with.
But the group has rapidly grown and now has 50 paid up mums and friends meeting regularly for training runs.
The running club has also been a fantastic source of friendship, support and motivation for Sam and her husband, Mike, who has a rare form of cancer.
Sam, mum to Ollie, 6, and Emmie, 4, said: “I work full-time and when my little boy started school I thought that setting up a running group might be a way of meeting some of the other parents I can’t believe that when I started out there was just a handful of us starting off from my drive and now we have running groups three times a week and are regularly getting groups of 30 at a time pounding the streets of Cottingham.”
Sam, 43, who works as an NHS manager in Hull, comes from a running background, but most among the ranks of the Cottingham Fitmums and Friends started out as non-runners.
Sam added: “It’s fantastic we’ve now got 50 households where a Fitmum member goes out running and is acting as role model for a healthy lifestyle in the household. One of the biggest obstacles to getting fit for parents is childcare and we are now looking at setting up Fitkids as a way of giving the children access to exercise at the same time as allowing their mums/dads to go running.”
Sam’s husband, a Bowen Technique therapist, is the Fitmums and Friends club coach.
Running has also been a powerful coping mechanism for the couple as they face Mike’s illness.
“Mike is a marathon runner and he’s always been really fit and healthy. Then two-and-a-half years ago he was diagnosed with a tumour in his pelvis. We were told he may not survive the surgery. It was just horrific, but the running kept us together and gave us a means of coping.
“Unfortunately we have just learned that the tumour has started to grow again and we will use the running to help us through again,” Sam said.
“We’ve made such fabulous friends through Fitmums and we’ve had such fantastic support which is just so important with what we are going through at the moment.”
The Fitmums club uses a simple system which enables all standards of runners to run together at their individual pace and without pressure to keep up with faster runners.
The club also has the support of local businesses, including from the local hairdresser’s Unique Salons which has kitted the club in the fabulous pink tops.
The inaugural Jane Tomlinson’s Hull 10K will take place on Sunday May 23rd with places for 5,000.
Featured Charity
Diabetes UK is Run For All’s charity of the month. Diabetes UK has teams entered in the inaugural Jane Tomlinson’s Hull 10K and in this year’s Leeds 10K and York 10K.
Diabetes UK is the largest organisation in the UK working for people with diabetes, funding research, campaigning and helping people live with the condition.
Diabetes is one of the nation’s biggest health problems, affecting not only increasing numbers of adults but also children.
Since 1996 the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased from 1.4 million to 2.6 million. More than 200,000 of those affected live in Yorkshire and Humberside.
Diabetes UK funds over £6million of research into the causes, treatments and finding a cure for diabetes.This vital work is increasingly important with one person being diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes in the UK and three people dying from the complications of diabetes every day. The complications are kidney disease, blindness, amputations and heart disease.
Diabetes UK offers support and information via their Careline and regional network.
Ann Rowe, Regional Fundraising Manager for Diabetes UK said:
"Running for Diabetes UK in the Hull, Leeds or York 10Ks, helps to raise awareness of the condition and raise funds to help curb this growing health crisis. Diabetes UK is committed to reducing the number of people who develop diabetes and to continuing to improve care and find a cure for the condition. Join us to make a difference to the 2.6 million people with diabetes today and the 500,000 who have diabetes but do not yet know it"
There are two main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes develops if the body cannot produce any insulin, the hormone which the body the body convert glucose to be used as fuel. Type 1 diabetes usually appears before the age of 40. It is the least common of the two main types and accounts for around 10 per cent of all people with diabetes. Children as young as 10 months have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. In most cases this is linked with being overweight. It often appears after the age of 25. However, recently, more children are being diagnosed with the condition, some as young as seven. Type 2 diabetes is the more common of the two main types and accounts for around 90 per cent of people with diabetes.