49 brave runners defied strong winds at the weekend to complete the Great South Run for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.
battling stormy weather and gusts of up to 30 knots, the 49 brave runners from local charity team, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, joined 25,000 others to run 10 wild miles around Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as part of the Great South Run.
The team of charity runners included Islanders Joe Iles, Lucy Hardy, Sarah Churchill-Slough, Jess Gray, Claudia Manser, Amy Cada, Deborah Wright, Phil Oxenham, Joss Drabble, Chris Lucas and his Moore Stephens team of 12 runners who collectivly raised a valuable £4,824.67 towards the current total of £12,866.67 raised for the Trust.
On a day when even the professionals struggled with the conditions, the Trust’s motley crew ploughed on.
Joe ‘The Rhino’ Iles describes what the runners were up against on the day:
“It was incredibly windy this year which made the race a lot tougher than normal, the last two miles along the seafront to the finish were all against the wind. My colleagues Sarah Churchill-Slough, Lucy Hardy and I managed to sick together through out the race which made the whole experience much more fun as we were able to support each other when the going got tough.”
One of the Trust’s most successful runners on the day was Matt Chambers, whose cousin Harry sailed with the Trust this summer as part of his recovery from cancer. Not much of a runner Matt was surprised to cross the finish line in 01h 11m 58s, just seconds ahead of 400m Olympic Gold Medalist Iwan Thomas.
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.
If you would like to make a donation in support of these intrepid Isle of Wight runners please click here – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charity
