Ollie’s Minions Run for Facial Palsy UK

December 19, 2013

On Saturday, 23^rd November, over 50 of the Bellahouston Road Runners took part in a charity relay run that saw runners in teams of 10 complete the distance between Glasgow and Gretna Green to raise money for Facial Palsy UK, the charity that supported one of their fellow club members Ollie Scott.

Ollie has recently undergone stage 1 of his facial reanimation surgery. He has a long recovery ahead of him over the next 12-18 months involving physical therapy, botox treatment further down the line and potentially stage 2 of facial reanimation and other corrective cosmetic procedures. To achieve his goal of life changing results and spontaneous facial expressions Ollie says it’s key to remain determined, keep a positive mental attitude and have a great support structure.

“Everyone in the club knows Ollie, some better than others, and we all know he has been through a lot in the last few years. We thought it would be good to show Ollie and the charity some support”, explains Brendan Moriarty, one of the runners who came up with the idea for the event.  “We thought about making one of the races organised by our club, the Jimmy Irvine 10K, a fancy dress race, we thought about half Marathons but frankly they aren’t enough of a challenge. We thought about doing a relay from the Mull of Galloway to John O’Groats nonstop, or doing the national trail and attempt to beat the record set by a Dundee running club, but although challenging it’s just the wrong time of year. Then we hit on the idea to hold a relay race from Gretna to Glasgow.”

Later on the decision was made to split the teams of up to 10 runners into two groups, and have half of the runners run North from Gretna, and the other half South from Glasgow. This allowed the relay to be done in daylight and all of the team met in Abington or thereabouts. The route, from the North started at the Bellahouston Ski Centre, and went along the Clyde Walkway, through Chatelherault Country Park and followed the Sustrans cycle path going south. Both groups started at 8am (although the south-to-north runners were delayed by an accident on the M74 southbound), and finished before the sun set at 4pm.

“The atmosphere between the runners in the lead up to the event was fantastic,“ comments Iain O’Donnell, there was a real team spirit and excitement in planning which runner would run which leg, where to meet, how to get people to and from their start and finish point, still fitting in with other commitments for the same day.” Brendan and the group who took charge of planning the route went into a lot of trouble to organise maps and set the rules for the handicap race. They also put together a list of challenges teams had to complete along the way in order to keep everyone entertained and win extra points.

Craig Ross from Team Mathos mentioned that there were over 40 emails exchanged within their team to get organised – and it paid off. Based on their average pace, distance completed and handicap calculated, their team won and the ten members could each pick one of the 10 prizes including free lunch at Tapa, a sports massage from Matt Williamson, a treatment at the Natural Health Service, or a hot stone massage from Spa in the City, presented during a social gathering and food at the ski centre. The prize for the second team came as vouchers from Dales Cyles, and the third team won a group yoga session with Mark Russell. There was also a special spot prize of a free pair of trainers and socks kindly donated by Run 4 It in Glasgow.

“The response to the request for donations was just amazing,” says Romy Beard. “Almost everyone I asked just said “Yes”! We also had fruit from the GlasgowVegBox, and bottles of water from MacB for every participant to stay fuelled and hydrated during the day, and discount offers from Dales and Achilles Heel. I’d like to say a massive thank you to all our sponsors for their generous donations!”

In total the group raised over £1,700 for Facial Palsy. The majority of this came directly from the club members, as every runner was asked to donate £10 for taking part in the event, and runners donated during a raffle held during the club’s annual awards night in October, where prizes included a game of golf at Gleneagles and a generous voucher from Itison Glasgow. There were also some very generous donations from Capita Project Services team and Peter that bumped up the total unexpectedly.

Ollie’s response to the event was very positive. “When I was told that my Bella friends were organising this event to raise funds and support Facial Palsy UK, I was overwhelmed by the support and by the fact that many people have put in a lot of hard work, effort and given up their own personal time to organise and plan this event. It is amazing and very grateful to them for doing it.” Not only did the group of runners raise money for charity, but, most importantly, had a fun day and night out, spending time with fellow club members across a variety of abilities. “I really enjoyed Saturday. It was brilliant running in a team of mixed runners and getting to know more club members”, says Hayley McCrorie who joined the club earlier this year, and that pretty much sums it up.

Article kindly written by Romy Beard, Race Organiser.  Facial Palsy UK would like to thank everyone again that took part in this event, we really appreciate your efforts.