Here is some feedback on Andy Thompson’s & Liz Blezard’s successful completion of the Great North Run

Liz is the Mother of one of Huw’s PE teachers (Ryan).   Ryan made Huw captain of the school football team and coaches a local club side that played against Hepworth a number of times.  The Blezzards have been touched and moved by what happened to Huw and Liz was pleased to be doing the run for Huw’s trust.  Liz enjoyed the run except when her other half parked 2 miles away and she had to walk back to the car – perhaps Warren thought it might be a good warm down 🙂

Andy however had the relative luxury of being bused in and out from the finish line and enjoying a pint at a local pub near the finish line.  Both Andy and Liz felt great at the finish – the achievement of finishing a tough event and concious of contributing to a cause that was special to both of them.

Andy’s competitive instincts drove him on to beat his target time of 2 hours and 15 minutes and he even says he intends to carry on running now he has got into it.   Andy and his family knew Huw for 9 years through both Hepworth United and school.  Andy puts his strong finish down to following his training plan religiously whatever the weather!  Huw had a soft spot for Andy (and the whole Thompson family) – referring to him as ‘Big Andy’ with his usual cheeky grin on his face.  The affection was clearly mutual as shown in this web site article from earlier this year.  Huw would definately be impressed with Big Andy’s commitment and spirit following his leg break earlier this year and here is a link to Big Andy’s pictures on the official web site.  As you can see from the pictures Andy was in great shape for the run – there is just a little less of him these days 🙂

Liz had run the event a number of times in the past and enjoyed the run more than last year.  She had prepared well and once again just felt glad that she finished – which she did without any walking – unlike some other runners in the event.  Not only that but she was back at the gym on Tuesday night – for more punishment!  Here is a link to Liz’s photos although she is only in the first one of the five shown as far as I can see.

We are honoured, touched and grateful that Liz and Andy chose Huw’s trust this year – not only that they wanted to ‘do it for Huw’ but they also raised over £2,000 between them, some of which is yet to be added to the web site – so the total will continue to grow.

There’s a Huw Thatcher Trust Facebook page – ask to be a member of the Facebook Group here if you want to.