Fife Running Group stepping out for a cause close to their hearts

Rebecca Simpson, Jill Hamilton, Gavin Simpson, Gary McMillan, Liam Stewart, Mike Smart, Jo Mitchell, Val Bruce and Diane Arnold are all taking part in the town’s first long distance race in nearly 30 years on Sunday, August 25.

And they are doing so to raise money for Kidney Kids because it is the only Scottish charity which supports children with renal/urology illness and their families.

The group, known as the Auchtertool Running Society, want to support Kidney Kids because of the help it gave to the family of local youngster Milo Carter, who underwent a successful kidney transplant in August last year.

Sadly, Milo went on to develop lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, and passed away on April 7 this year.

Jill Hamilton said: “We decided to sign up for the marathon to raise money for a Scottish charity that supported our friends through a difficult time following the loss of their nine year old son.

“None of us are experienced runners. Some of us have ran a few 10k races but nobody has run much beyond that distance. The event is local which is great for the running team and inspired us to give it a shot!”

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Rebecca Simpson added: “As a team we decided to sign up for the half marathon as a way to raise money for a charity close to our hearts. We decided as a group, to raise money for Kidney Kids as this is our way of thanking the charity for helping our friends and supporting Kidney Kids to carry on its essential work.”

Jill continued: “We have raised just over £2000 so far. This has been mainly via donations on our just giving page. Milo was our best friend. We are all coming together to show our support for them.”

Milo’s mum Sarah Carter, who gave him one of her kidneys, said Becca and the rest of the team are close friends and their children all went to school with Milo.

She said: “They asked us to help choose a charity close to our hearts. Kidney Kids was a huge part of the last three years in the renal ward.

“It is the only charity in Scotland which helps renal children and they pay for all the dialysis machines along side the home dialysis service for children (all kids on dialysis in Scotland have to travel to Glasgow 3-4 times a week regardless of where they live) so the home dialysis service is much needed.”

She added: “They are a wonderful charity and I am so proud of the Auchtertool Running Society for doing this in Milo’s memory.”

To make a donation to the group visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Auchtertoolrunningsociety