Two sisters are aiming to raise as much funds as possible for the same charity their 91-year-old mother has helped by taking on a half-marathon.
Roma O’Neil and Tamara Thompson from March will take on the virtual Great North Run (GNR) for Children’s Cancer UK, which their mum Audrey Hindle wanted donations towards instead of receiving presents for her birthday last month.
Roma, 63 and Tamara, 52, have been preparing for the 13.1-mile challenge and aim to complete the final few metres with Audrey in a bid to create more family memories.
“We only made the decision to do this a few weeks ago. I saw that they will open the Great North Run as a virtual run and I don’t think Brendan Foster (founder of GNR) did not want it to be a year that it didn’t happen,” Roma said.
“I messaged Tamara and said ‘do you want to do the GNR virtual run?’ and she said ‘yes!’
“We’ve not got any ambitions as to how much we would raise, but anything would be lovely.”
Roma, who works at an eye clinic in Wisbech and Tamara, a funeral director working in Luton, have completed long-distance runs before, as they get fit for the virtual run on Sunday, September 13.
With encouragement from younger sister Tamara, a mother of three, Roma, a grandmother of nine, has previously ran for the likes of Race for Life and got back into the groove through taking part in her local parkrun.
The pair have targeted £250 from the fundraiser, but it’s not the amount raised that matters most as they look to benefit their chosen cause.
MORE: Jump! Volunteers freefalling 10,000 feet at 125mph to support Cambs carers
“Some children have not done the things we’ve done; they’ve not had those chances, so we would decide to do it for the same charity as mum has done,” Roma said.
“This is something that challenges us. What we want to do is at the end, my niece will bring her out on her wheelchair, so she can get up and do the last stop and have a picture taken.
“I’ve not run for a couple of years and someone at school said ‘will you be coming to parkrun?’ and I thought I need to do some fitness.
“If it inspires people to raise a few quid, that is lovely.”
To donate, go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Tamara-Roma.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here