Press Release - 10th September 2001
Six friends run New York marathon for Christie's
(left to right) Dermot Craven, Robert Dickinson, Ken Newbiggin, Andrew Dryden and Marc Crossland. Six local businessmen are preparing to hit the streets of The
Big Apple by pounding the pavements of Trafford. The six friends are
taking part in the gruelling New York Marathon on November 4 to raise
cash for The Christie - and for all but one it will be a debut
performance.
Only Marc Crossland, a Director of Hale-based Broomfield Estates,
has competed in the 26-miler before. He and Andrew Dryden, a Director
of Contract Cars.Com, Altrincham, decided to run this year for the
cancer centre and thought they'd raise even more money - and have
more fun - if a group of them crossed the Atlantic for the event.
When they learned that co-runner Ken Newbiggin's mother Edna, had
lost an eight-year battle against cancer, they chose to run in tribute
to her. Other members of the team also have relatives who have been
treated for cancer, some at Christie's. As Andrew says, the hospital
is close to all their hearts.
Ken of Mere, Cheshire, is a director of Contract Lighting Maintenance,
Warrington. The other runners are Dermot Craven, of Hale, a director
of Sale-based Craven Properties; Philip Millward, Bowdon, a director
of T & D Packaging, Bradford, and Robert Dickinson, of Bramhall,
a director of Broomfield Estates.
"Marc's the only one who has ever run a marathon so we're a
bit apprehensive, but very keen. We're all quite fit and together
we are running seven miles every morning and 12 miles at the weekend.
We are training very seriously, so we should be ok," says Andrew,
of Hale.
For Marc, helping Christie's is something of a family tradition.
His parents, Airtours group Chairman David Crossland and his wife,
Anne, gave personal donations of almost £500,000 to the hospital's
successful £25 million centenary appeal - the country's largest
appeal ever outside London.
He and the rest of the group are organising pre-marathon fundraising
events including a black tie evening at Mere Golf and Country Club,
but also hope for generous sponsorship for the run itself.
Anyone who would like to assist can call Contract Cars.Com on 0161
928 3456. To make a donation, send a cheque, payable to Christie's
Marathon Runners to 10 Broomfield Lane, Hale, Cheshire, WA15 9AQ.
For more information please contact:
The Christie in Manchester is one of the leading cancer centres in Europe - registering around 12,500 new patients and treating about 40,000 patients every year.
You can now subscribe to Christie charity news releases by adding our RSS address to your news aggregator.