We had been thinking of raising funds for CRY and in memory of George. After a typical lazy Christmas where we had overindulged on food and wine. We were chatting with my cousin Grace and we decided to sign up for the Derby 10k to get us moving. We put a status on Facebook to see if any of our friends and family wanted to join us. All of a sudden we had a team of 41 runners including 6 teachers from George’s school Littleover Community School. From that moment #TEAMGEORGE was born.

Our friend Mick Sharman who now lives in Australia ran the Perth 10K on the same day. Everyone has been so committed….. training on those cold, dark nights and mornings. It was a tremendous comfort to Me, Dave, Billy, and Scarlett that everyone wanted to do this for George and CRY. Prior to the race we got quite a lot of interest from local radio and TV. That was very daunting for me and Dave but we felt we needed to go ahead with it to help raise awareness of the work CRY do.

Race Day was a beautiful sunny day and all of us looked great in our CRY t-shirts with our lovely pictures of George on the back. There was a great atmosphere and the support and cheering from the sidelines along the way was a real lift. To see a friendly face cheering you on makes such a difference. Everyone crossed the finish line with a smile. Our quickest runner was Damien McParland 44mins 11 seconds. But everyone should be proud! Some ran the 3K with little ones straight after. Mick in Perth also did a video commentary for us helped by his wife Helen showing us the fantastic scenery of the city. Charlotte Richards went on to play for her football team in the afternoon. Oh to be young! The sensible majority went to the pub for a well deserved pint.

So far we know through JustGiving that we have raised over the £7000 needed for a weekend screening. That’s 200 hearts that can be screened. Fantastic! As a family we are over the moon. We have achieved what we set out to do and keep George at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Marie Watson