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The Virgin Money London Marathon’s on the horizon and a couple of local residents are gearing up to run for Horsham-based Action Medical Research.
Matt Simpson, 32, is the head of PE at Collyer’s College and says everyone there has been a huge support: “I’ve had some lovely messages from parents wishing me well and there’s a lot of support from the staff and students.
“Some of the BTEC Sport and Travel and Tourism students have run events to raise funds which has been great. Plus it’s also helped raise awareness of Action’s great work which is right on the college’s doorstep.”
Matt has two children: Nathan (9) and Genevieve (1).
His wife, Katie (pictured above with Matt), has been closely linked to Action for a number of years having sadly lost her niece, Megan to Meningitis when she was just 6 months old.
“It had such a seismic impact on the family” remembers Matt. “Any research or projects that can help families not go through something similar is a very powerful motivation.”
Matt hopes to raise £2,000 by completing the 26.2 mile course.
He will join a team of 55 runners taking on the challenge for Action on Sunday 28 April.
That team includes Sue Price, 52, a Digital and Design Team Leader who also lives in Horsham.
The mother of two grown up children has a five hour daily commute to Hertfordshire, so squeezes her training in when she can: “Unless I get a day working from home, my training starts at around 7.30pm. I try to run with the ‘Horsham Joggers’ on a Tuesday night but I train mostly by myself.”
Sue’s no stranger to physical challenges – she’s run three half-marathons in the past couple of years.
It was while gearing up for the 2018 ‘Big Half’ that she first discovered Action Medical Research: “I was looking under the charity section of the (Big Half) website. I read about Action’s mission to fund research to help save lives of babies and children and thought what a fantastic cause it was. This is now my second year of supporting Action.”
Sue is well on her way to raising £2,100.
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.
Action is currently funding research into areas including premature birth, epilepsy, asthma, scarlet fever, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.
-END-
NOTES TO EDITORS:
You can see Matt’s fundraising page here:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simpsonrunslondon
You can see Sue’s fundraising page here
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Sue-Price190966
Photos
To download photos of Matt
https://action.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/Matt%20Simpson.jpg
https://action.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/Matt%20Simpson%20running.jpg
To download photos of Sue:
https://action.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/Sue%20Price.jpg
https://action.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-04/Sue_running_vest.jpg
For more information on Action Medical Research contact Peter Denton, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:
T: 01403 327412
E: pdenton@action.org.uk
W: action.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
Follow us on Instagram at @actionmedres and @actionevents
Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For more than 65 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.
Join our fight for little lives today.
Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.