Trail Runs for Muscular Dystrophy

In February, at the AGM, I was honoured to be elected to be your President which has given me the opportunity to raise awareness of Muscular Dystrophy.

In February, at the AGM, I was honoured to be elected to be your President which has given me the opportunity to raise awareness of Muscular Dystrophy. Muscular Dystrophy is one of the hereditary diseases that everyone has heard of but few know much about. I didn’t until one of my grandsons was diagnosed with it about three years ago. It is a muscle-wasting disease which only affects boys but, as it progresses, it will eventually cause all his muscles to fail, including those essential to life.

So, to raise money for research, I proposed to lead some trail runs using my intimate knowledge of the local paths and tracks. I was planning to commence in March but, as we all know, everything was stopped by Coronavirus. As lockdown started to ease I was anxious to get started as soon as possible. I approached the committee and, whilst they were supportive their priority was, quite rightly, to get the club activities restarted; so It was agreed that I would take responsibility myself. To ensure that I am acting within the covid regulations, I am taking guidance direct from government website and the risk assessment from The Ramblers Association whose group walks are directly comparable. They are currently taking groups of up to thirty, whereas I am restricting numbers to single figures to provide a safer and better experience. I finally got going in August as lockdown eased. I now plan to run them regularly. Each one will be entirely different and from a different starting point.

Ruairi is now six and attends normal school and rides his bike (only on the flat and gets tired easily) but when he first started to try to walk, he was different;

he never crawled but always wanted someone to hold him up as he staggered about. When he was about 20 months he slipped at the swimming pool and broke his femur and spent nearly three weeks in traction. There then followed numerous trips to Birmingham and Manchester as well as to Oswestry and the local hospitals for tests to find what was wrong. Often we were told everything is looking good, BUT, there was always a ‘but’. Then, when he was three, he was diagnosed with Duchenne, the most common but also the most serious type of MD. He has just taken part in a drug trial through Manchester University and we are currently awaiting results. This unfortunately will not provide a cure, only less side effects. How much Ruairi realises about his condition we don’t know but as he gets older he will obviously become more aware. At his recent birthday party I overheard him say to his older cousin “HOW DO YOU JUMP FRANK”. Something we all take for granted. So difficult!!

To get full details and to join one of my trail runs you will need to get in contact with me, e-mail southolme75@gmail.com If there is a demand, I am quite happy to lead a group specifically for slower runners. I am looking for a donation of £10 per run to MD.

Also if you maybe aren’t able to come on the trail runs and you would like to make a donation please go to the link:

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ruairi-morris1 Alan Morris