It’s the stuff of nightmares. A giant Higgy will soon have pride of place in a shop window in Stroud Town Centre. The patience of the good folk of the town has surely been tested enough by my frequent buggy forays down crowded pavements. Now they will hardly know where to look. It’s all part of our campaign to “Help Higgy Hit a Hundred”. In my career as a professional cricketer with Gloucestershire, I was lucky enough to score a century on 11 occasions. After the 2008 success of Higgy’s Heroes at the London Marathon (13 runners) and at the Stroud Half Marathon (25 intrepid souls including my wife Jeannie and sons Adam and Dan) I was foolhardy enough to aim for another three-figure total. It helped that Jeannie had joined a running club. The newly formed Cotswold All-Runners is packed full of folk with big hearts as well as the desire to take up the challenge of running 13.1 miles on a Sunday in late October. It helped that Adam and Dan harboured no resentment at the way they were press-ganged into running last year, and were keen to try again. It helped that most of the Heroes of 2008 were so impressed by the very special MSRC way of making them feel special that they were eager to repeat the experience.
It helped that both Jeannie and I come from large and loving families; our brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces have taken up the challenge with real enthusiasm. But most of all it helped that the people of Stroud, the citizens of Gloucestershire and the incredible supporters of MSRC threw their weight behind the campaign. With just less than 3 weeks to go to the run, I was overjoyed to discover from Abi at MSRC that we have reached our target. I can honestly say that no century has ever meant more to me. But I’m not heading for the pavilion just yet. My career- best in first-class cricket was 149 not out….Wouldn’t it be fantastic to leave that mark behind…? And even those who aren’t able to run the Stroud Half Marathon are more than doing their bit for MSRC. Simon Barnes, coach to the Cotswold All-Runners has just completed the most extraordinary run of all- 871 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End in just 20 days. Along the way he received countless messages of support- and some much needed hospitality from the MS community. He’s not as barking mad as his choice to do the run as a 40th birthday treat for himself would suggest, but he is extremely grateful. What a Hero! Meanwhile Niall at the Halfway House and Rodda at the Crown and Sceptre have raised teams within the Higgy’s Heroes team, Steve Philpott’s going to provide a cheering point for supporters at the Bay Tree Café in Stonehouse and Clare Gerbrands of the Farmers’ Market has provided a stall for Emma Ryan-England to sell cakes for Higgy’s Heroes. Jeannie and I will be there as well- I might even bake a cake myself- and we’ll be doing our best to sell MSRC merchandise both in advance of the race itself and afterwards, when Ashley Loveridge is going to run an auction at a post-race function at the Halfway House. Just under 3 weeks to go, and everything is starting to fall into place. Helen and Abi are bringing a gang from MSRC to help the day go with a swing, Sara Povey’s organising a roster of physios to help with pre- and post-race massage and I’ve just heard that the race organisers have recorded more entries this year than ever before. I know it’s being greedy but wouldn’t it be great if we could break all attendance records as well, get the number of Higgy’s Heroes past the 150-mark, and raise even more money for MSRC? If you can get here, come on down to Stroud on October 25th. We’d love to see you. And if anybody’s got any influence over the weather……? |
