In 2021, thanks to my friends, family, Witney Vikings Football Club and lighting industry colleagues sponsoring me for the London Marathon, we raised £4,237.95 for Liberty’s Legacy, a Special Fund of the Bone Cancer Research Trust (BCRT). Liberty’s Legacy was set up in memory of Liberty who died from Ewing sarcoma, a form of primary bone cancer, when she was just 14 years old.  

I had the privilege of meeting with Liberty’s family after the marathon and to this day, I see Adam Bennett, who was once a keen footballer at the local club where I coach, in recovery from bone cancer and admire his bravery and determination to keep pushing forwards, despite the daily challenges he faces!

My experiences have inspired me to go again in 2022! On 10th April I completed the Brighton Marathon and the finale to my fundraising ends with the London Marathon on 2nd October which will be my 5th, where I am aiming to get under my 03:42:41 marathon PB.  Please get behind and support me if you can, I can’t think of a better way to keep up the running in support of the amazing work that BCRT does. 

The BCRT is dedicated to saving lives and improving outcomes for people affected by primary bone cancer. Despite being small, they fund more research projects exploring primary bone cancer than any other organisation, with no government funding. Other large UK cancer research charities do not prioritise bone cancer patients, and the latest figures from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) have shown that research into primary bone cancer is still critically underfunded - with UK charities allocating just 0.02% of their total research spend for 2020/21 to this cruel disease.  However, the BCRT is proud to have invested almost 9x more into research during 2021.  Last year alone, BCRT committed an incredible £807,824 to pioneering bone cancer research - to save lives! 100% of the research funding goes into finding a cure for this brutal disease.

I would be so very grateful together with Liberty's family, Adam's family and everyone at the charity, if you were able to please support in 2022.  It's an ambitious challenge, plus I am recovering from long covid, but I wanted to take this on - thank you so much.  Let's do this - again!

Love Rick xx