Working in Manchester for the past three years, the City where I was born and spent my first 40 years, has provided me with the opportunity to catch up with my friends, quite often by going with them to watch a shared passion - Manchester City Football Club.

One of my closest friends, Craig Gill, who came to all the mid-week games with me lost a brave and brief fight with cancer. Craig was diagnosed in early March 2016 and died on 20 April 2016. During his last few weeks he was incredibly well looked after by the staff at the Christie hospital - a very well known Manchester cancer hospital. My cousin has also recently been affected by cancer.

Their experience has prompted me to raise money for three charities:-

The Christie Charity

Craig, his wife Penny and family received such loving support from the Christie during Craig's time in hospital, which most importantly is a teaching hospital and works extremely hard trialling drugs and pioneering new treatments, a hospital for cancer survival - Craig was extremely keen to be part of that had he been given the chance. Also whilst The Christie is not an end of life hospital, Craig, Penny and family were priviledged to have their expert care at such a critical time and felt so incredibly supported by them when the time came.

Cancer Research UK

For their tireless work in raising money for vital research and their prolific cancer awareness campaigns which are invaluable.

MacMillan Cancer Support

Who provide an essential much needed support function to patients and families.

To do this, I am going to run the distance from my home City of Lichfield to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester (140km) over 14 10k races. My first race will be the Lichfield 10k on September 11th and my last will be the we love Manchester race that finishes at the Etihad Campus in July 2017 - a fitting tribute to Craig who loved Manchester City Football Club ( a list of the races I have entered so far can be found below - the others will be added when they are available.)

It would mean a lot to me if you could help by donating whatever you can to help me raise funds in memory of my friend Craig, to support the hospital that looked after him and does such amazing work everyday and for my cousin who has thankfully survived cancer - to raise more money to help more people beat cancer.

The ten 10k races confirmed so far are ( please feel free to come along as support or do a race with me!):-

11 September 2016 - Lichfield

25 September 2016 - Walsall

9 October 2016 - Tamworth

12 November 2016 -  Cheshire 10k, Arley Hall, Cheshire

20 November 2016 - Tatton Park, Cheshire

11 December 2016 - Telford

15 January 2017 - Draycote Water, Warwickshire

12 February 2017 - Walton Wobble, Walton on the Hill Staffordshire

5 March 2017, High Legh, Cheshire

12 March 2017, Fradley, Staffordshire

3 June 2017 - Abersoch, North Wales

2 July 2017, Shenstone, Staffordshire

 9 July 2017 -  We love Manchester Etihad Campus

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.