Dear Cobham Rugby Club member
As some of you will be aware, last October my eldest son, Matt, a fit, energetic and vibrant young man who played rugby at Cobham from the U5s all the way through to the senior teams, sadly passed away unexpectedly from a severe heart attack at the age of 21. Cobham Rugby Club have been a fantastic support over the last 10 months both to us as a family and to many others connected to the Club who knew Matt well. After what has been a very difficult period for us all, I am keen to do something in his memory that will also raise much needed funding to help reduce the risk that this will happen to other families in the future.
I have therefore decided to take on the Blenheim half marathon on Sunday 4 October - which trust me is proving a real challenge for my ageing body ! What is particularly special is that Georgia and a number of other ageing friends and assorted children have 'asked' to do it with me so hopefully it will be a memorable day.
But the real purpose is to raise as much money as we can for the charity, Cardiac Risk in the Young or 'CRY'. CRY not only provides great support to the bereaved family, it does tremendous work screening thousands of teenagers and young adults to help detect possible symptoms and it also funds a leading research programme into the causes of cardiac death in the young at St George's hospital in Tooting.
After a general donation to the British Heart Foundation, the funds raised will be split between the research and screening programmes run by CRY, including screening of Cobham Youth and Senior team players either at the end of this season or the beginning of the next season, depending on when dates work best.
The Virgin Money giving site link is below:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/marchingformatt
If you have difficulties with the link you can just go to the Virgin Money Giving site and search Paul Cragg.
I appreciate that many you have already provided us not only with fantastic support but have also contributed in other ways to raise funds for CRY, so please don't feel in anyway obligated to do so again. For others, this is the first time I have ever undertaken a sponsored challenge and given the muscle issues I have been suffering I can promise you it will be the last ! CRY is a great charity and it would be really fantastic if we could raise enough money to make a difference in the challenge of preventing cardiac death in the young.
Kind regards
Paul (Craggy)
