A Nairn woman who ran the London Marathon for a children’s cancer charity is challenging runners to sign up for the Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running.
Nicola Ford complete the London Marathon in April and raised £5,073.24 for CLIC Sargent. She said: “I chose CLIC Sargent because of an amazing young girl, Kate O’Donnell, whom I had met through her brother, Kris, when we both joined the RAF together.
“Kate has battled a malignant brain tumour three times in just 10 years, suffers from osteoporosis and was left paralysed from the waist down after chemotherapy. She is always bright and cheerful no matter how bad a day she is having. An absolute inspiration to us all.”
Ms Ford managed to raise the fantastic total thanks to bake sales, a Santa day, hair chop, watch repairing for donations, charity tins and buckets.
She said: “Knowing that I managed to carry out my running dream as well as raising such a large amount for an awesome charity is absolutely amazing.”
Now Ms Ford is encouraging folk to sign up for this year’s Baxter’s Loch Ness Marathon and Festival of Running.
CLIC Sargent’s Highland Fundraiser, Peter Logie, said: “We want people looking for a challenge. It is too late for marathon runners to enter directly but they can take one of CLIC Sargent’s Gold Bond places. Why not join Team CLIC Sargent and take part in this amazing event?”
The Festival of Running offers a range of different distances. The course goes along the south-eastern shores of Loch Ness, across the River Ness and into the centre of Inverness. Runners can choose from a 5K, 10K, Marathon, 10K Corporate challenge race or one of the Wee Nessie Junior distances.
CLIC Sargent aims to help children and young people with cancer live life to the full.