Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.  I am not going to lie, as the English student among us (is it among or amongst?) there is great pressure on me to come up with a page worthy of the cause that we are running for.  

We decided as a group that we wanted to do something to honour the memory of our friend, brother and son, Nick Walker who sadly passed away 2 years ago.  Ever since, we have been searching for something to do to commemorate our dear friend.  After much deliberation we, or possibly the more athletic among us, suggested doing a half marathon, which then later became 13.8 miles much to the horror of certain members, mentioning no names, Josh Lerigo.  The run we decided upon was the Coniston 14, taking place on March 27th, which gets worryingly nearer every run that we go on.

 

Since then, after the shock had settled, the "slow coaches" heard the devasting news... The run is even further! Due to the horrific weather England saw at the beginning of January, it had begun apparant that there was an unstable part of the journey, so it had to be diverted. Now, then run is 16.8 miles, and is even more challenging!

 

        http://www.coniston14.co.uk/

Throughout the process however, we have been united in our choice of charity.  We became aware of the Kids Scanner Appeal through local sources such as TV and Radio and thought that this was a fitting choice of charity to run for.  The current scanner at Sheffield Children's Hospital is used over 1,600 times a year by all areas of the hospital.  However, the technology is now over 7 years old and is not benefiting from advances in technology.  They are aiming to raise £500,000 in order to buy a brand new scanner and the appeal is doing very well so far.  However, the quicker they reach the target the quicker the new technology can be installed and start saving lives. 

 

       http://www.kidsscannerappeal.org.uk/

 

We cannot put a figure on how much we are aiming to raise, we are just hoping to contribute as much as we can to a cause that means a lot to us all and help remember our dear friend.  We are facing an uphill task, the 13.8 mile course is described as "challenging" on the Coniston 14 website.  Many established club runners struggle with such a difficult course.  Many of our training schedules so far have consisted of heavy drinking, take-aways and the only exercise that has taken place over the last few years is walking to the fridge for another beer.  However, new year, new start and all that.  

 

So please, give all you can, it will definitely be appreciated by us all and will go a long way to helping the Kids Scanner Appeal reach the target of £500,000. Thank you for reading this, I will update regularly in between a vigorous University schedule and an intense training regime.

The Coniston 14