GRAN RAISES THOUSANDS IN MEMORY OF HUSBAND
SHE may be turning 70 this year, but that hasn’t stopped one brave grandmother from completing her first half marathon in memory of her husband.
Dot Jones, from Cwmbach, Aberdare, has raised more than £2,000 pounds for charity after sailing past the finish line at the Merthyr half marathon.
A grandmother of 16 and great-grandmother of one, Dot’s record as the oldest female competitor comes less than a year after the death of her husband Gwyn in August following a battle with lung cancer.
Now, after talking on the 13-mile course with the help of family and friends, she has more than doubled her target to raise funds for the palliative care ward in Ysbyty Cwm Cynon.
For Dot and her family, the inspiration for the challenge came after a family gathering during the Christmas holiday.
Dot’s daughter Lowri Jones said: “At Christmastime we were all together as a family and we decided to do this. We started running the next day
“People have spotted her running through the local parks or along the main roads of the Cynon Valley over the last three months and they can’t believe that she has never run before in her life.”
During the race Dot and a team of eight other family member and friends took on the trail wearing T-shirts with a picture of Gwyn and their group name ‘Team Big Bampy’.
Lowri, 39, from Merthyr Tydfil, said: “The running made us put our energy into something else rather than missing him all the time.
“We called him Gig Grampy as he was a big, tall man and the kids absolutely adored him. It’s been really difficult but we wanted to do something positive.”
She added: “Obviously it was such an emotional day as a family. We were going out in the T-shirts, we were supporting each other through it, singing and handing out sweets.”
For the family, Gwyn’s diagnosis in October 2016 came within months of returning to the Cynon Valley after 12 years living in North Pembrokeshire.
Dot, 69, said: “The respect they gave to Gwyn and to us at Ysbyty Cwm Cynom made a real difference.
“When Gwyn died all his family were around him and we are a big family so for them to give us time to allow that was phenomenal.”
Speaking about the race, the former fostering and adoption agency director added: “It was hard, because of the poor weather the week before. I hadn’t been able to do a longer run and the most I’d done was eight miles.
“We knew we only had a short time span so we had to get on with it and we were determined to raise the money.
“In January it was only six months after Glyn’s death and you’re still getting over that and missing him, but the exercise helped. If I can do it at my age, anyone can do it. I’ve met other people that I haven’t seen in years.”
To donate go to: www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/biggrampy