Strathcarron Hospice 10k

31:59

It was a year since Aileen was diagnosed with Type 4 cancer. After a harrowing six weeks in Forth Valley Hospital and eventually an exploratory operation that discovered the extent of cancer, she came home a fortnight later so we could care for her, We were greatly supported by the palliative home carers from Strathcarron Hospice who came every morning. They were always positive and established a wonderful rapport with Aileen as she prepared for the day. Aileen was transferred to the hospice at the beginning of January 2023 when it was no longer possible to administer the medication and 24-hour support at home. Again the care was of the highest standard by the totally committed staff in the Hospice.

Today was the Strathcarron 10k race and Gregor entered as a way of repaying respect to the staff and remembering his mum. We had gifted donations to Strathcarron following the funeral and have since donated many boxes of clothes and goods to the Hospice shops. Earlier in the year, Gregor and I had discussed the idea of him running the Great Scottish Trail from Hadrian's Wall to Cape Wrath for the Strathcarron Hospice. He had to postpone the idea when he moved house. He won the 10k race in a record time (31:59) and when interviewed by the radio station he mentioned his hope to do the Great Scottish Trail Run to raise more funds for Strathcarron. 

Whilst waiting for the race to finish, I noticed that Dennis Canavan, the MP for West Stirlingshire for 34 years was sitting near the finish. I had known of him as a committed and hard-working MP but never met him. I struck up a conversation. I knew that he had connections with Strathcarron Hospice, his son Paul had been supported by the Hospice and Dennis had run the Strathcarron 10k for many years, he was a sub-3-hour marathon runner. 

It was an inspiring conversation with someone who had devoted much of his life to helping the communities and people of West Stirlingshire. We drifted onto politics and he told me that his record time from his house in Bannockburn to the House of Commons was faster than his marathon time taking only 2 hours and 50 minutes.  Commenting on HS2 and the likelihood of cancellation, he said a taxi to Edinburgh airport, boarding the plane 10 minutes before take-off, with no security checks and then riding on the old Piccadilly underground line allowed him to get to the Westminster 2 hours faster than you could today despite all the infrastructure investments in airports, new underground lines and IT ticketing systems. I think he was making the point that local transport links are just as important as the big-ticket infrastructure projects beloved by government ministers.   

Start

Collecting the Prize