Congratulations and a huge thank you to all the runners who took part in the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in aid of CRY. This year was the second Royal Parks Half Marathon and CRY were fortunate enough to have at least 24 runners amongst the 15,000 competitors lining up at 9.30am on Sunday 11th October. It was an emotional day for everyone, especially for those who were running in memory of a young person.

Starting and finishing in Hyde Park, the 13.1 mile route ran across four of London’s Royal Parks – Hyde Park, St. James’s Park, Kensington Gardens and Green Park. Runners also took in some of London’s most historic landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, Marble Arch and the Royal Albert Hall.

As everyone lined up at the start, a little further along the race course, 11-16 year old runners were preparing themselves for Pulse3K – a new youth event run over the last 3 kilometres of the half marathon course.

Race day provided us with perfect running weather, if a little chilly for spectators, in a beautiful autumnal park setting.

A team of Calor Gas employees with corporate team places chose to run for CRY this year and through this event have already raised over £15,000 for the CRY – for which we are immensely grateful.

The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon also provides CRY with a great opportunity to raise awareness of the charity and its aims, so we were delighted to be able to attend the event.

It was wonderful to meet so many of our justifiably exhausted runners and supporters in person after the race and present them with well earned goody bags and greatly appreciated chocolate bars. There was an atmosphere of achievement mixed with emotion around the meeting point. Thank you to all runners and their families and friends who came to meet us.

Thank you also to all CRY supporters who took photographs and cheered our runners on during the day. If you haven’t done so already then please send any photos you have to laura@c-r-y.org.uk.

Once again, we would like to thank all of our runners for their huge effort in completing this half marathon and fundraising for CRY. Your time and overwhelming support are greatly appreciated. So far, this event has raised at least £22,000 for CRY through online and offline donations and funds are still coming in as online fundraising pages close. Thank you to everyone who has sponsored a CRY runner for this event. Your support enables us to continue to save young lives.

Laura Murzell – CRY Fundraising Assistant

Next year’s Royal Parks Half Marathon will take place on Sunday 10th October 2010.

Please also register your interest with CRY by e-mailing Laura Murzell at laura@c-r-y.org.uk as we will have a limited number of charity places available should you be unsuccessful in the public ballot.