People / Spotlight
2,014km in 2014 for Bristol runners
At the start of 2014, it seemed like an impossible challenge.
But as the year draws to a close, Bethan Clark is close to completing her task of running an incredible 2,014km.
If the going has been tough at times, Bethan would think about 17-month-old Sidney, the son of two close friends who everybody knew as Siddy and who tragically died last year from cancer.
is needed now More than ever
Smile with Siddy, a charity set up in his memory, has spurred her on through 32-degree heat, lashing rain, heat rashes and viruses in a year where the Redland-born runner has put on her trainers and gone for a run every day since January 1.
“We wanted to show our support to our friends Flora and Moo, to let them know we care for them and the charity,” Bethan says, who has completed the challenge with her husband Andrew, with the pair now raising more than their initial target of £2,014.
“There have admittedly been days when I have not felt like running but I have been overwhelmed by the support of friends and family both for me and the challenge.
“Even though I have run for a few years now I have never completed anything this intense and I really had no idea when I started on January 1 whether I would finish, or even come close to finishing.
“I don’t think I would have got this far if I wasn’t raising money for a cause in which I believe passionately, and if I didn’t have little Siddy’s memory spurring me on during the difficult days.”
Siddy was diagnosed with neuroblastomawith, a form of extremely aggressive children’s cancer, aged just 14 months.
Consultants at Bristol Children’s Hospital were confident Siddy would make a full recovery and he started on a treatment plan, which was intended to last about a year.
But the chemotherapy wasn’t working and Siddy’s tumours were not shrinking as hoped. Eventually, the size of the primary tumour in his abdomen meant that Siddy’s lungs could no longer cope.
Siddy’s mum Flora said: “Siddy was such a wonderful boy, always happy and smiling. He endured his treatment with such bravery and courage. We miss Siddy terribly but we are proud and grateful to be his mummy and daddy.”
Smile with Siddy, of which Bethan is a patron, is a charity designed to raise money for essential research into neuroblastoma but also to raise public awareness.
You can sponsor Bethan and Andrew via their Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/Clark10kChallenge.
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