A Wandsworth man is looking to keep the memory of his friend alive as he takes on this year’s Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon.
Christy Cooke, 24, is not the biggest fan of running but admits the chance to raise money for a charity set up in his friend’s honour is too good to miss.
Richard Cann died of dengue fever last September while working with orangutans in Indonesia aged just 24.
Since then his friends and family have launched the Richard Cann Wildlife Foundation to help carry on the work he was so passionate about.
And Christy says he will lace up his running shoes despite his better judgement and embark on the 13.1 mile course around Cardiff as he seeks to help the charity prosper.
“I have never done a half marathon in my life,” said Christy, who lives in Frogmore in Wandsworth.
“I’m not actually much of a runner if I’m honest and find it quite torturous.
“So doing the Cardiff Half Marathon is going to be a really big challenge and I know that there will be times that I don’t want to do it.
“But it’s important that we raise as much money as possible for Richard’s foundation and honour the work that he was devoted to.
“So that will definitely be all the motivation that I need when it comes to training and getting myself the course in one piece.
“There should be a fairly big group of us running so hopefully we can help the foundation grow.”
Lloyds Bank is in its sixth year as proud title sponsor of the event in Wales with the Cardiff Half Marathon along with our other community programmes helping bring to life the bank’s continuing commitment to Helping Britain Prosper.
The event is Wales’ largest mass participation event and will take place on October 4, with Christy determined to help legitimise the foundation.
“It’s important to us that the foundation isn’t just recognised by Richard’s friends and family but that it starts to become recognised more widely recognised by the general public,” he added.
“It will be great to be a part of such a big event with people running for so many big causes and I hope that we can play our part in that.”
Lloyds Bank is proud to continue its support of the Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon – Wales’ largest mass participation event. Entries are still available at: www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk
