A team of fitness enthusiasts are preparing to take on an endurance-testing challenge to raise funds for a Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) Special Named Fund.
George Radcliffe was four years old when he passed away in October 2023, after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in May the previous year.
His parents, Lisa and David, set up the fund Just George with CCLG to raise money for much-needed research into rhabdomyosarcoma.
After hearing how funding is desperately needed for research into childhood cancers, Sharon Williams, who has been friends with Lisa for more than 20 years, told the other members of her local boot camp.
Sharon, along with Angie Joiner-Handy, who runs the boot camps, decided they should do something to raise awareness and funds for Just George to help other children diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma in the future.
On Saturday, February 3, from 10am-2pm, they and a team of boot camp regulars will take on four hours of continuous running between two line markers at Mildenhall Cricket Club in Suffolk.
Sharon said: “When George died, I was talking to Ange and the boot camp ladies about it, and we all decided we wanted to do something to raise money for the fund.
“One of the girls suggested doing shuttle runs because that's probably the least favourite exercise among the boot camp.”
Angie, also from Mildenhall, said:
It’s going to be tough, and I've done enough enduro events to know how we're all going to feel at certain points. I know we're going to need to cajole each other along and just be motivated by the reason we're doing it all.
When we’re two thirds of the way in, when the fatigue is very real, that's when we're going to need to just give each other little words of encouragement here and there.
It's amazing how you can just boost someone else to carry on doing what they're doing when they don't feel as if they've got anymore in them. We're all a close-knit group anyway, but it's going to be even more bonding, doing this enduro challenge together.
We'll all be in it together.
Sharon added:
At boot camp, we all encourage each other on all the time and that's something we would do anyway.
A lot of us have been doing this boot camp for several years. So, we’ve built that sort of relationship up together. We do all have days where we struggle a little bit and we just all encourage each other, to do better all the time.
There's a good team of us there. But the driver behind this makes it probably a little bit easier to do because we all have become aware of what little funding goes into researching childhood cancers.
That’s the best motivation you need.
The group’s fundraising has already raised over £2,000, something which Sharon said she is most grateful for.
Sharon said: “I'm personally really pleased because it's January and everybody has just had Christmas.
“We're hoping for a little bit of a boost after payday and on the day of the event, but considering it's January, I think we’ve way exceeded my expectations of what we would have raised.
“We massively appreciate the support, and we know how tough things are for people at the moment.”
Lizzie Goates, Fundraising Manager Community and Corporates at CCLG, thanked those involved.
She said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you and good luck to Sharon, Angie and all those taking part in this amazing challenge.
“It’s thanks to support like theirs, and the dedication and commitment to fundraising of families like the Radcliffes, that we’re able to continue funding pioneering research to help create a brighter future for children with cancer.”