Two fund-raising runners from Wymondham refused to let their training go to waste after the coronavirus outbreak saw their planned half marathons postponed.
Emily King, 29, a nurse at the town’s Ogden Court Community Hospital, and Emma Cossey, 28, a sign language interpreter, had been putting in the hard yards to ensure they could raise funds for their chosen charities.
Mrs King had been due to run the London Landmarks half marathon for the British Heart Foundation after her brother, Arran Rowe, and father-in-law, Tim King, had both had heart issues in recent years - with just over £1,000 already raised for the March 29 event.
While Ms Cossey was preparing for the 13.1 miles of the City of Norwich Half Marathon on April 5, which has since been postponed until Sunday, October 25 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, with over £400 already raised for mental health charity Norfolk and Waveney Mind.
So instead they took to the streets of Wymondham on Sunday morning.
“My brother had a cardiac arrest about a year and a half ago, at the age of 30, and luckily survived it,” Mrs King explained. “So I was raising funds for him and also for my father-in-law, who had a heart attack about six months ago.
“We were just out in the open, it was really nice, hardly any cars on the road, fields mainly - with mainly sheep cheering us on! So it was quite the opposite from the London Landmarks.
“I’ve had over £1,000 in donations, bless them. At this difficult time, people don’t have to give me anything, so it’s nice that people still want to give.”
Ms Cossey was running her first half marathon as she was keen to support the funding of mental health services, due to her family’s experience with mental health issues in the past.
“We decided to do it two days previously because we were both so grateful to people who had donated and didn’t want to let them down,” she explained.
“Mine was brought forward three weeks and I had been planning to run with my brother and his girlfriend, but they are over in Dublin.
“It was a bit strange because you normally have the crowds as a distraction but there was just trees really. It was nice to do it with Emily though because we’ve been friends for 25 years, since pre-school.”
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Completing their route in around two hours and 10 minutes, both were keen to enjoy their route rather than chase a time - particularly as Mrs King had a 12 hour night shift looming.
At a time when NHS staff are under such great demands, it makes the effort even more admirable, yet she says running is an important way of ensuring she can carry out her role fully.
“At the end of the day, nurses, we’re quite modest, we don’t expect anything, just a few pleases and thank yous,” Mrs King added. “We go out to do our job because we like doing our job, whether there’s limited resources or not.
“And if you feel well, that’s why I keep fit, because I want to look after people.”
Both fund-raising pages remain open and can be found at justgiving.com/fundraising/emma-cossey28 or justgiving.com/fundraising/emily-king36.
- Are you doing something to help others, or do you know someone who is? Email Daniel.Moxon@archant.co.uk with details, as part of our Here to Help campaign in partnership with Norfolk County Council.
- Click here to join our “Norfolk and Waveney Here to Help” Facebook page
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