Five ‘tortoises’ go on the run
Maidenhead: Friends pace themselves for charity dash
A group of women raised almost £3,000 for Cancer Research UK by running their very own ‘less hare more tortoise’ race on Saturday.
Katherine Baker, Rachel Regan, Jo Patil, Alice Donato and Rene van der Breggen met through their children attending Oldfield Primary School.
In the absence of organised running events, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they decided to arrange their own five kilometre (3.1 mile) fundraising run.
They picked Cancer Research UK as their chosen charity because they have all been touched by the disease.
This includes Alice, who recently had breast cancer, and Rachel, whose father was diagnosed with an ag
gressive blood cancer and died a year ago following 12 months of treatment.
‘Less hare more tortoise’ was the advice Alice’s physiotherapist gave to her when she was experiencing fatigue during her recovery.
Out of the group she was the most adept runner, having run marathons, but she was told by her physiotherapist to run a lot slower and so had to adapt her running style.
Katherine said it has meant the rest of the group could ‘actually cope with going out with her’.
The friends started their run at Braywick and finished at The Oakley Court in Windsor for a celebratory lunch which Katherine said was ‘perfect’.
She said: “We weren’t able to be cheered on by as many friends and family as we might otherwise have been, but a small number met safely at the finish line to surprise us, along with a bottle of Prosecco.”
For their efforts they were also presented with personalised medals made by Jo’s six-year-old daughter, Maya, who used cardboard, foil, ribbon and stickers.
Katherine said the group, who have raised £3,040, are ‘blown away’ by people’s generosity and that this race will not be their last.
“We’re all keen to keep running, we’ve definitely got the bug,” she said.