Marie Curie nurses put on their running shoes for Belfast Marathon

Ten staff members from Marie Curie’s Belfast Hospice will be putting on their running shoes to take part in the Moy Park Belfast City Marathon relay team event tomorrow.

Two relay teams of seven nurses, a healthcare assistant, a doctor and a pharmacist will be raising money to support their own charity which provides end of life care for people with a terminal illness across Northern Ireland.

Most of the staff are all non-runners but have been encouraged to take up running in order to participate in the marathon relay. They have already raised nearly £6,000.

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The runners are - Hospice nurse manager Debbie Moore, nurses Brid McCarron, Hollie Patterson, Catrina Rafferty, Carla Donnelly, Rebecca Jennings; healthcare assistant Jamie Couchman; community specialist nurse Tracy McWilliams - with Dr Claire Le Velley and pharmacist David Marshall.

Organising the two teams is 24-year-old nurse Rebecca Jennings from Ballynahinch. A keen walker with her dogs, she admits she has got the running bug.

“I only started running in January to prepare for the Belfast City Marathon relay race and I’m slowly starting to catch the running bug,” she said.

“We are all so humbled when we learn what the families and friends of the people we have nursed either in the community or at the hospice have done to raise money for our care, it’s only right that we try to do our bit as well.

“We will be proud to wear the Marie Curie running shirts and hope to have a great day out and soak up the atmosphere.”

Dr Le Velly added: ‘I decided to take part in the relay this year to fundraise for Marie Curie as I have worked with an amazing team at the hospice and I wanted to give back in some way.

'I had never ran longer than 7km before but I took part in the Spar Craic 10K earlier this month as part of the training and the buzz from the crowd was fantastic and got me through. I’m looking forward now to running again this Sunday through the streets of Belfast.”

There will be hundreds of runners, both individual runners and in relay teams, taking part in the marathon to raise much-needed funds for Marie Curie which provides end of life care for people with terminal illness across Northern Ireland.

Emma Corry, Marie Curie’s Events and Campaigns Coordinator in Northern Ireland, said: “We can never thank people enough for taking the time and the energy to run the marathon for us in memory of their loved ones.

“It’s often an emotional day for our Marie Curie runners as they have someone in their hearts and minds every kilometre of the race and we really appreciate their efforts.”

To support the Marie Curie hospice relay https://tinyurl.com/bddtm9j8 or to find out how to fundraise for Marie Curie by taking part in other events visit Charity Events for 2024 & 2025 (mariecurie.org.uk).

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