Stirling Marathon 2022: Why we are running in memory of our loved ones

The Stirling Marathon (Image Credit: Getty Images)

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Held on Sunday, 15 May, the marathon is the highlight of a two-day distance running event, with a half marathon, 5k, junior run and family run.

Michael Davies with his aunt and uncle Lynne and John Perry

It provides the ideal opportunity to give back to the organisations and charities that have helped so many while remembering those who are no longer here.

Gena Lever from Shawlands, in Glasgow, will undertake the 26.2-mile challenge for the first time in memory of her grandmother Irene 'Rene' Lever, who had dementia and died in March 2020 aged 99.

The 35-year-old hopes to raise £1,000 for the team at Whitecraigs Care Home in Thornliebank, where her 'Nana' resided for her last three years.

Gena says: “The staff were amazing for her. It's almost like when someone who has dementia is in there, that person almost forgets about their family and so the workers become like their family. That is why I am raising funds for the workers.”

Gena Lever with her grandmother Irene 'Rene' Lever

The primary teacher returned to her love of running during lockdown as a way to escape from the pandemic.

She explains: “The lockdown has forced me to do a lot and I got back into running just for my own sanity. I did a run every day in May and in June I had a month off so I will begin running and resistance training again soon.

“It's meditation and mindfulness for me when I'm out running. Teaching during lockdown has not been easy at all, so actually it has just been a bit of escapism for me.

“To have something to focus on has been great, I love taking on a challenge like this.”

Like Gena, Lisa Duff, from East Calder, West Lothian, decided to take on the challenge for the first time.

“About a year ago I couldn't run 100 metres and so when lockdown I started running,” she says.

“I have done charity events before but there comes a point where I have done enough abseils and I've done enough skydives. I never thought I could do this so it's kind of like my Everest.”

The 27-year-old PHD student at the University of Leeds is raising funds for Pancreatic Cancer Action after the disease took the lives of four of her relatives, including her grandmother who died six days after being diagnosed in 2003 as well as an aunt in 2006.

“I was always vaguely aware of the charity because my mum is so involved in it and my dad did a Land’s End to John O’ Groats cycle for them and it is important because I know of at least four people I am related to who have had pancreatic cancer.

“I knew two of them very well, so it is one of those things that has been deeply ingrained in my family since I was a young child.

“With pancreatic cancer, no progress has been made in about 40 years and it just feels like more needs to be done.”

As well as raising awareness of the charity, Lisa believes it has been beneficial to her own health and wellbeing.

She points out: “It's not about health specifically but it is in a way because my relatives were healthy people who did everything right but it still happened to them, so I don't take health for granted and it is something I try to maintain.

“The marathon is not something I thought I would ever be able to do, so I am looking forward to being able to say with confidence that I can do this and go on and do other things.”

The Stirling Scottish Marathon is also about keeping a person’s legacy alive.

Michael Davies, who runs a bar in Edinburgh, is hoping to raise £1,000 for Lymphoma Action after losing his uncle John Perry to Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January 2020.

The self-employed carpenter and father of two, who had not long found out he was to become a grandfather, died aged 70.

Michael says: “He was all about taking care of his family and making sure everyone was happy and he was a really happy guy to be around.”

“John was in the process of an experimental treatment but he had become too ill to take it, so he didn't get to see that out.

“So the reason to support that charity is that there are a lot of treatments that are in the process of coming to the forefront and being used more often.

“It's trying to raise awareness for the diagnoses primarily and encourage people to get an early diagnosis so that these treatments can come to the forefront and take effect.”

On why running events such as the Stirling Scottish Marathon in memory of a loved one is so important, Michael adds: “It keeps the person fresh in your memory. It adds to their legacy so for me doing this in association with Lymphoma Action it's making sure that whatever money I might raise is going towards helping someone else.

“If that informs his legacy then that is a nice way to be remembered and is hopefully helping someone else in the future.”

To find out more about the event, visit the Stirling Scottish Marathon website.

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