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Two years after the tragic death of Sebastian
English, a 15-year-old boy at Lord Wandsworth College, 15 teachers and
pupils ran the Bath Half-marathon in support of the charity Cardiac Risk in
the Young (CRY).
Seb died of a rare genetic disorder that had also
claimed his father's life 12 years previously and CRY seeks to raise
awareness of the syndrome which every week claims the lives of eight
"apparently" fit and healthy young people in the UK from undiagnosed heart
conditions.
The bonus for the eight upper sixth boys from
Hazelveare House, Seb's old house, and the seven male and one female member
of staff was they were running with some of the most famous names from world
rugby of the past 20 years.
Simon Halliday, the ex-England and Bath captain is
a patron of CRY as he was a close friend of Seb's father and he invited the
college to join his team.
So after a 7.15am start from Hampshire, two hours
later the staff and pupils were breakfasting in the Bath RFC clubhouse with
Will Carling, Jason Leonard, Michael Lynagh, Mike Teague, and many others as
well as BBC presenter John Inverdale.
Ten of the 15 school team members had never run a
half marathon before, but all survived the experience and, of course, all
recorded a personal best, which for some was around 90 minutes.
Perhaps special mention should be made of the only
female member of the team, geography teacher Sam Ludlow, who in seven weeks
went from complete beginner to a two-hour half marathoner. The team
had trained together for only 10 weeks, but with warm sunshine and
enthusiastic support from parents and friends, it was a relatively painless,
and even enjoyable occasion.
The school has supported the runners and more
importantly CRY by a mufti day and a sizeable sum has been passed on to the
charity.
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