On Sunday 1st September, five runners teamed up on behalf of “Team CGC” to take part in London’s Big Relay – to raise money to support the Canine Genetics Centre and its idiopathic epilepsy (IE) research. It turns out that relays involve a lot more planning than the average race (which station is nearest to which start point? What time does each runner need to be in place? Who will look after whose kit bag…?), but the preparations paid off and after an early start all five runners were at their various start points, spread out from Tower Bridge to Canary Wharf, in plenty of time and raring to go.
Sally kicked things off at Tower Bridge, taking on a route that involved a serious amount of tunnels, which wasn’t ideal in the hot weather. Cathryn then picked up the baton for leg two, heading away from Canary Wharf along the river to Wapping. Next it was Bryan, who was running his first ever 5K. He was able to savour possibly the scenic highlight of the race, running across Tower Bridge with cheering crowds all the way. While Eloise and Jim brought the team home, running the final leg from Canada Water. Both later said they’d never been more pleased to see the Cutty Sark (the finish line!).
The team met at Greenwich Park to celebrate: a half marathon between them, in a time of 2:04:32 and in 96th position out of 210 relay teams. Most importantly, they discovered that the team’s JustGiving sponsorship page had just gone over the £2,000 mark!
Team CGC would like to say a big thank you to everyone who sponsored us or cheered us on around the course. The money raised is going to support the Canine Genetics Centre and its idiopathic epilepsy (IE) research. Sally, Cathryn, Bryan and Jim would especially like to thank Eloise and all her friends and family. It was Eloise who came up with the whole idea after her Border Collie Buddy sadly died from epilepsy at only two years old.
It’s not too late to sponsor us (can we reach £2,500?!) – if you’d like to help us raise funds for the CGC and epilepsy research, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/cgc-epilepsy-bigrelay
