Charity Champion, Ryan Cooke, ran the 2017 JCP Swansea Half Marathon for #TeamMaggies dressed as a Smurf, with his friend Lloyd Davies. Ryan hopes by telling his reasons for running for Maggie’s Cancer Centre last year, will encourage more people to fundraise for them in 2018’s race, which takes place on Sunday 24th June.

Ryan said,

“Personally I think Maggies is a fantastic charity as they help people cope with the stress, anxiety and the effects the families struggle with when a loved one’s fighting Cancer.

I’ve lost 1 grandmother and my wife has lost 3 grandparents to this awful disease. One of her grandparents Carl Quick passed away in Glangwili Hospital on the actual day of the Swansea Half Marathon.  I had a phone call as I crossed the finish line. I scanned the crowd thinking that my family had come down for support. Unfortunately Carl, who had complained about feeling short of breath for the last few days, had to be admitted into hospital. I got home as quick as I could, showered & went down to Carmarthen as soon as possible. We were waiting for his results from the tests when they found the Cancer. He must have been suffering with it for a while but had just put it down to a bad back from manual jobs & hard graft. Carl died that evening. I was very close to my wife’s Grandad as, having lost my own Grandfathers at a young age, he helped fill the void. 

Men rarely speak about feelings or ask for help this is why I think Maggies is such a great charity. I can remember like yesterday seeing my grandmother lose weight so quickly she looked like she was wasted away. She was always a happy, jolly woman, always cooking or baking. Her skin turned yellow due to jaundice and she lost well over half of her body weight. When the dreaded day of the funeral came, my cousin and I carried her coffin – just the two of us and it weighed next to nothing. She must have been around 5 stone in the end. Things like this stay with you, I still think about the people we lost but I know Maggie’s are there to help families who are going through tough times. The Maggies team are heroes in my eyes and I was glad when my employer (DVLA) chose Maggie’s as their charity of choice for 2018.”

If like Ryan you would like to become a charity champion and fundraise for Maggie’s then you can sign up here.

The JCP Swansea Half Marathon is a fast, flat road race on a course that is perfect for beginners, and first time half marathon runners. Headline charity places are available via our website for Alzheimer’s Society, Cancer Research UK and Maggie’s Cancer Centres.

The race has recently been recognised as being the “Best Half Marathon” in the UK at the UK Running Awards for the second consecutive year and runners can expect a fully marshalled course on closed roads, bespoke medal, technical t-shirt, on route entertainment and a goody bag for all finishers.

Go to www.swanseahalfmarathon.co.uk for further race details, ‘like’ the Facebook page www.facebook.com/SwanseaHalf and follow @Swansea_HM #Run5wansea on Twitter and @swanseahalfmarathon on Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest news about the JCP Swansea Half Marathon.