27th February 2005

James Paterson was a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF when he died on 22nd May 2002 whilst playing football.

James was a Geology student at Bristol University before joining the RAF, and in 1999 he surprised us by running the Bristol Half Marathon.

In the Autumn following James’ death, his sister Amanda also went to Bristol University. This year, Amanda, her brother Douglas and father Alastair (right), decided to run the Bristol Half Marathon in James’ memory.

February 27th turned out to be bitterly cold. Amanda used the anti-HIV Society runners as markers, so that she could keep a bit warmer by running between their condom body suits!

Douglas whipped round in 1 hour 18 minutes, so hardly felt the pain. Alastair was just about on his 2 hour target – whilst Mum was very much with all three runners in spirit, sitting in the local caff eating doughnuts and drinking coffee!

On 17th April, Douglas ran the London Marathon (left) in brilliant sunshine, cheered on by huge crowds in festive spirits.

The first 20 miles went like a song, then the pain set in.

He had set himself a target of 3 hours and was delighted to cross the finishing line in 2 hours 58 minutes.

Over £7,000 was raised for CRY in the two events, helped greatly by the generosity of Douglas’ company GMAC-RFC, which doubled the amount that Douglas raised.