Barking Parkrun welcomes charity runners

Emdad Rahman

The second coming of the Beast from the East still could not freeze the spirits – as determined runners defied the extreme cold weather to take part in their weekly Parkrun.

As part of a mass awareness drive, Liverpudlians John Hammond and Dave Huyton visited Barking Parkrun as part of their own challenge. They are running four marathons in four days to raise much needed funds for Kaleigh’s Trust and to raise awareness of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma (DIPG) – the second most common type of primary, high grade brain tumour in children, the cause of which remains unknown.

Hammond had already completed Belfast and Southampton before London, and following on from Barking the duo intend to finish their challenge in East Lothian, Scotland.

Hammond said, “It’s a tremendous honour, and the welcome from the people has been like nothing else. I ran the first marathon in Northern Ireland for Cameron on Thursday and was in Southampton to run for Zoe yesterday. Today it is London for Kaleigh, and then on Sunday it is up to Scotland to run for Luke. Any donations, no matter how small, would be massively appreciated.”

Fellow Liverpudlian Huyton, who is running with Hammond, added, “It’s an honour to be a part of this. The fact that our running is raising awareness of DIPG makes this all worthwhile, and the warmth and welcome at Barking Park has been simply tremendous.”

Scott Lau from Team Kaleigh concluded, “We are just immensely grateful and proud of what these guys are doing. We are full of awe – this is the epitome of humanity.”

Both Hammond and Huyton are being supported on their London run by Harmandar Singh, Louise Chappell, Scott Lau, Jason Li, Krisztina Maroti, Emdad Rahman, Zsolt Maroti, among others.

•All money raised by Hammond and Huyton will be split between six children currently fighting DIPG at an experimental clinic in Mexico. To sponsor them, go to:
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Hammo76

Kaleigh Lau – #teamkaleigh
Edie Molyneux – #fight4edie
Lucy Moroney – #helplucy
Cameron Truesdale – #cure4camfund
Luke Stewart – #helpluke
Zoë Donneaud – #tousaveczoë

•Kaleigh’s Trust has been setup to highlight the battle of Kaleigh Lau, who is currently fighting DIPG. The Trust is a platform to provide updates on Kaleigh’s progress and to also share experiences which may help others who may be going through something similar. Go to:
http://kaleigh.ethanet.co.uk

•Read more about it:
MusiKaleigh offers hope to Kaleigh
Kaleigh Lau stars at team Kaleigh 10k Challenge

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