Plucky charity runner goes the extra mile in father’s memory

A YOUNG woman who has never run further than three miles is set to take on the Sheffield Half Marathon on Sunday in memory of her father.

Frances Slack, 27, has been fund-raising for cancer charities for six years, since her father Keith Slack died from the disease in 2005, and has so far raised more than £600.

Miss Slack, from Rockingham in Rotherham, will be running the 13-mile road race on Sunday for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

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Her father was just 56 when he was diagnosed with stomach and liver cancer, and died four weeks later.

Miss Slack said: “My dad was a very fun, outgoing person. We are only a small family so it was quite a shock to the system.

“I always run for cancer charities because I want to raise money to help others who are in a similar situation so they can get as much support as possible.

“Dad died so suddenly that Marie Curie wasn’t involved in our family life, but the charity does such great things for families in need that it’s vital that they get the funds to carry on.”

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The fundraiser says she hopes to complete the long-distance race in under three hours, having never run further than 5km, or three miles , in the past.

The Sheffield Half Marathon begins at 9.30am at the Don Valley Stadium and follows a route to Hunters Bar and back. Places are still available for a 3km fun run which will be run on the same day at Don Valley Stadium.

Already signed up for the fun run are Eric Cooper and Bert Marsh, two war veterans with a combined age of 171.

Mr Cooper, from Crookes, is blind and will be raising money for the Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.

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The 86-year-old widower, who joined the Home Guard when he was 16, said: “I have always been fit because I went into the Infantry, who were very heavy on exercise.

“I am pushing myself this year because I had pneumonia at Christmas which knocked me back a bit and I lost a stone in weight.”

Mr Marsh, from Waterthorpe, fought in Normandy in 1944 with the Twelfth Parachute Battalion.

He will be walking the course in aid of the British Heart Foundation, a charity he has supported after he had a heart bypass operation two years ago.